Just a Chance Encounter?
by Wandering Seas
Summary: Reyna and Hylla have been captured by the ruthless Blackbeard, but can they escape? And if they do, what happens if they're separated? Meanwhile, Leo Valdez is on the run from yet another foster home. When Reyna's hurt and lost, will Leo swoop in to be her knight in shining armor? And is it just a chance encounter or something more? Some might even say...fate?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I don't own PJATO or HOO**

**So, like I promised, here's the (long overdue) re-write of A Chance Encounter. Sorry it took so long; I wanted to wait until I was on summer break so that I have time to write.**

**Book of the Update: **_**Les Miserables**_** by Victor Hugo**

Chapter 1

A loud slam woke me up from my fitful rest in the damp and dark corner. I looked up to see that the heavily guarded iron door had been left open, allowing a flood of light into the area.

I elbowed Hylla to wake her up and motioned for her to stay silent. Hardly daring to move, for fear of the guards noticing and shutting the door, locking us in this hell hole once more, I made my way across the floor, cautious of the filth and human waste that stuck there. The closer I got to the door, I could hear noises, sort of groaning, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. There must be some guard who was having his way with one of the….more _loose_ girls from Circe's island.

I dared to actually approach the door and stick my face out, just enough to see that the chair by the door was left empty. No, not empty, the guard had left his sword there. It was almost too good to be true.

As much of a temptation that sword was, I left it. Better not tip off the guard of an escape. That is, if we could even make it off the ship. I paused for a fraction of a moment to send a silent prayer to my mother, Bellona, and I hoped that Hylla was doing the same. It would take more than luck to get us out of this one.

It was easy to stay silent, creeping about on bare feet, with the background noise of the ocean battering the hull of the pirate's ship. I hiked up my bedraggled dress to my knees to keep it from tangling about my ankles and tripping me up. Being only twelve, the pirates hadn't yet….well you know, but I was certain they had to Hylla. She wouldn't admit it, but you could tell. A dress couldn't get _that_ torn up just from being worn constantly and the occasional beating.

I heard a sound, the sound of gruff, drunken laughter, and I froze. That sound sent chills all the way down my spine. Hylla and I shoved our backs against the wall, as if we could shrink ourselves down to be invisible. I felt a pain behind me, and tilted my head back to see the rusted bronze of a door handle. The laughter got louder and closer.

This was it. Either open the door and risk finding whatever's inside, or stay out here and be caught for sure. I looked at Hylla and I knew we had the same thought. Quietly stepping back, I turned the handle, thanking the gods that the rusted metal didn't creak. I peered into the room, but saw nothing in the darkness.

Hylla shoved me from behind and I stepped forward into the room, and Hylla shut the door behind us. For a few silent moments, we stood huddled together in the darkness, our biggest fear walking right by the very door we hid behind, but then the laughter died out. They had passed, and we were safe.

And then I heard it. The slurred, gruff words, I was too frightened to even make them out, and it's probably better that I didn't. The room was pitch black; I couldn't even see Hylla, who was holding me in her arms, let alone whoever had made that sound.

I was shocked that the man couldn't hear the beating of my heart, or the trembling that consumed my whole body. We were in the pitch darkness, in silence for what seemed like hours before we heard anything else. A snore. The man was sleeping, and knowing how pirates are, he was drunk and wouldn't wake up if we whacked him on the head. I almost cried with relief.

I still tried to be silent and slow when I felt my hands around in the darkness for some type of light. My fingers grazed over something metal and waxy on the wall. I reached out and heard the slight clatter that sounded like an earthquake in the silence.

I paused. Stood still for the longest time before I felt around and grabbed the handle of what felt to be a lamp. I touched the side, and it felt warm. I opened the flap, and the warm glow of a dying ember lit up the room. I sent up thanks to Bellona, to Mars, to Jupiter, to all of the gods…

I could see the man now. He was most definitely drunk, judging by the numerous amount of empty bottles that were smashed and scattered around him. I took a quick survey of the room and realized-yes! There was a door on the other side, along with a trunk full of weapons.

I walked over, giving the drunken man a wide berth so as not to step on any glass, and peered into the trunk. It was mainly daggers and knives, with a few swords and one pistol. Not knowing how to shoot it, I left the pistol, and opted for a small but sharp dagger that I could hold without it being too cumbersome.

I waited for Hylla to choose one, a knife a bit longer and sturdier than mine, which she held with a sort of vicious ferocity, and I set down the lamp an closed the flap. We were once more plunged into darkness. But this time, I reached out my hand to where I remembered the door handle being and pulled open the heavy wooden door.

Lamplight flooded the room and Hylla and I quickly got out and shut the door, before someone saw the light through the other side. Creeping along the deck now seemed easier, being a bit away from our cell and with our new weapons to protect us. Until we came to the stairwell, that is. These steps led up to the main deck, where we could possibly make our escape, but where there were no walls to hide behind, and where the moon would light us up for the whole world to see.

We stood by the stairwell for a few moments, listening for anything to hint of people up there. Nothing. I took a deep breath and began my dangerous trek up the creaky stairs.

**A/N so, there I is! I started a bit earlier this time, but oh well. Has my writing improved? Gotten worse? Was this perfect length? Too long? Too short? Were Reyna and Hylla OOC? Were their fear and the pirates believable? Any suggestions?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Io non aquisto. Capisce?**

**I felt like I should post this today , but usually I try to post once or twice a week.**

**Book of the Update: **_**Same Kind of Different as Me **_**by Ron Hall and Denver Moore**

Chapter 2

I grit my teeth and took the steps two at a time, for less creaking. It didn't sound much better, but it got me up faster. Whoopee. I made it to the top and stood still, waiting for Hylla and cringing at the noisy steps. When she finally made it up, I pulled her by the arm over to the railing. That was something we could try to blend into. Better than just standing on the deck at least.

We crouched down behind the railing and peered through the bars, looking for anything that we could swim to, or some sort of raft…_anything_. But I saw nothing. We came all this way, just to stop here. I prayed to Neptune (of all gods, really?) for some way we could escape this ship of horrors and not just die beneath the waves.

Thankfully, it was a full moon, so the sea was lit up, and I saw the…._thing_ swimming towards the ship. Right by the railing where we were. This creature looked a bit like a horse and a fish combined…I guess…..it was definitely strange. I just hoped it didn't eat demigod.

"Shoo," I finally dared to whisper, after the thing had been there for what seemed like ages. "Shoo," I whispered again, waving my hand at it through the railing. It didn't go away. But it didn't try to eat my hand, which was a good sign. Basically, it looked harmless.

I turned to ask Hylla if she knew what it was, but she was gone. Panic hit me. "Hylla?" I whispered, loudly, spinning my head around, looking for the pirates that must have captured her. Something touched my knee, and I almost screamed, but held it back.

"Don't be such a baby, Rey, it's just me," said the voice of my sister.

I looked down and saw Hylla, who must have gone through the railing, climbing down on a small ladder stuck to the side of the ship. I watched in utter confusion as she climbed all the way down the ladder and quietly dropped down into the water next to the creature.

It went underwater, and for a moment, I was afraid that it would attack, but it came up under my sister; it looked as if she was riding it. Riding it…yes, Hylla had the right idea. I quickly followed suit down the ladder, holding my dagger with my teeth, and threw one leg over the horse-thing, sliding down until I was riding it.

The creature started to swim away from the boat, us with it, and worry hit me. Did this thing know where it was going? I didn't see any land in sight. And what about the pirates, did they see us? Will they look for us?

I took a deep breath and leaned my head on Hylla's back, twisting my new dagger around in my hands. It's probably better to let the Fates deal with all of that nonsense anyways…..

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Rey," a voice prodded me awake.

"Mmm?" I mumbled.

"We've got company," Hylla said quietly, gesturing to the outline of the ship a good distance away from us. It's far, but that ship is way faster than our creature, which is probably tiring as we speak.

I sat up straight and looked around for any sign of land. There was a smoggy haze in the distance, shrouding the shadows of dark blurry shapes. "Is that land?" I asked, pointing it out.

Hylla didn't answer, only murmuring something to the horse-fish.

"Are you talking to it?"

"I'm just telling it where to go. It's worth a try anyways."

"Oh…okay," I said, silently thinking that my sister had gone a bit crazy.

After a bit of time had passed, the pirate's ship was closer to us, but we were closer to land. And I still didn't know if they were actually following us, or just chanced to be going in the same direction. I desperately hoped that the latter was the case. Those pirates were horrible. It was all that Jackson kid's fault. And his girlfriend, the one with the curly blonde hair that was so pretty once it was nice and braided. _Annabeth_, that was her name.

I could feel anger boiling up inside me and I took a deep breath. Better to let it go; it's passed now, what else can I do? Hylla, I know, won't let go so easily. She'll hold the anger in, she always does. About everything.

The fish-horse whinnied loudly, and I looked back at the ship. No, it was too far away to hear us over the waves. That was when I realized that we weren't moving any longer.

"Come on!" I growled, squeezing the body with my legs, the way you get a horse to move.

The fish-horse didn't budge. It seemed very agitated and nervous, and for some reason, I didn't think it would go any farther. I looked out to the smoggy blur that was land; it was closer now, much closer, but I still didn't know if I could swim all that way. Carrying shampoos and towels across an enchanted resort doesn't really give you much exercise. That's all I really did; I was sort of a handmaiden, I guess you could say.

Well, it's either sink or swim, because there's no way this creature was going to swim another inch towards the land. I swung my leg around and splashed into the cold water, putting my dagger between my teeth so I had hands free to swim. Hylla catching my idea, followed suit. I heard her murmur a goodbye to the fish-horse and rolled my eyes.

The flowy white material that made for a beautiful dress what very dragging and cumbersome to swim in. it was a challenge to go even a few feet with the ragged material pulling me down, let alone all the way to the land. I stopped and used my dagger to cut the dress short at my knees, which was a bit easier to deal with. Slightly. At least there weren't any sleeves to deal with.

After a while, I just gave up and tucked the entire skirt part into the gold belt around my ribs. It held it up nicely, and though it felt a bit odd to be naked from the waist down, it did make it easier to swim. I kept up a consistent pace, paddling like a dog in the ocean; I could see the land slowly getting closer, but the ship behind me getting closer even faster. I just took a deep breath and told myself to calm down, that I would be no use to anyone if I panicked. Just keep swimming…..


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Io non aquisto. Capisce?**

**And P.S. I know that Hylla needs to talk more and be more involved, but she's basically been through hell on that ship. If you didn't catch my hints, then I'm not explaining it, but it wasn't a great time for her, so she's bound to be a little quiet. That and she's a difficult character for me to write and keep in-character XD**

**Book of the Update: **_**The Mark of Athena**_** by Rick Riordan**

Chapter 3

After what seemed like (and probably was, judging by the sun) hours of swimming, I was so tired it felt as though I could barely go on, but Hylla kept me going, thought she must have been tired herself.

"Come on, Rey. Come on, just a little further. We're almost there. Come on, you can do it," she prodded.

I'm certain that I was visibly sinking, and it was all I could do to just keep moving my limbs. Hylla had taken my knife and tucked it into her belt, but my breaths were still short and gasping in between sloshes of seawater into my mouth and lungs. My eyes stung with salt and wind and my limbs were becoming numb from exhaustion. I couldn't see where I was going any longer, I was just following the sound of Hylla's voice and all I knew was that we were swimming away. Away from hell and towards the smoggy blur, which now seemed as glorious as Mount Olympus.

When I had literally ceased to breathe except for tiny gasps which didn't get me any air at all, I vaguely heard Hylla say something about land that didn't register in my befuddled mind until my feet scraped something. A rock, a shell, sand, _something_. And in that moment, strength came back to me from who knows where and I paddled desperately but with all of the energy in my body until I could place both feet on the sand and walk.

It was hard against the current, but not nearly as much as swimming. My arms just sort of wandered around as I walked, my feet being scraped and cut by all sorts of litter and rocks, my mouth hanging open as if to catch the oxygen. I felt Hylla untuck my dress from the belt and it floated down around me in the water like sea foam.

I still didn't know where we were or where we were going, and after I had regained my strength and my breath, I looked to Hylla. She took my arm and led me over to a big wooden dock, like the one at Circe's island. I followed her up some rickety, splintery wooden steps and around some corners – I really was much too tired to focus on where or how, I was just trusting my big sister - and we ended up in some scruffy grass by strange surface, black and hard, with yellow and white lines on it. Huh.

For me, sleep seemed the most important thing at the time, but it obviously wasn't. Reyna pulled my dagger out of her belt and shoved it in mine, the flowy wet fabric mostly concealing it. I just followed her, not really knowing what to do, as we went around the sharp corner of a building and sunk down against the wall. There were more important things definitely, but I really think I needed a little nap right now….

"Hylla?" I asked, feeling like a child. She looked at me and I continued. "What are we going to do?"

She kinda half smiled. "I don't know, Rey, but we'll figure something out. Daughters of the war goddess right? We can do this."

"Right." Another yawn and I had fallen asleep with my head on her shoulder.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Reyna shook me awake before the sun had even risen, but I could sense that she was scared about something – sister sense? – and didn't grumble. She didn't say a word, only gestured to the harbor where we must have ended up last night. There was a very large, very familiar ship docked there that put a sour taste in my mouth and a bowling ball in my stomach.

At first, it seemed that we would just be able to calmly walk away, but that was before we saw the men getting off the ship. And before they saw us. And before we had to run, because they were chasing us. Looking back, it was odd that pirates would pay so much attention to two little girls, but at the time, my only thought was to get away.

My bare feet pounded against the hard black ground and I shrieked as a giant silver creature with glowing eyes tried to attack me, but spun to the side just quick enough for me to run by. Terror and adrenaline fueled my feet to move and my mind was too slow to even process what I was seeing or where I was going, and I stepped on something sharp enough to make me stop, making an embarrassing yelping noise. I saw blood, but Hylla grabbed my arm and pulled me along before I could inspect it.

The pirates were so close that I could hear their gruff voices shouting just behind me and through some sort of sibling telepathy, I could _feel_ Hylla's fear to the point of insanity – or maybe it was mine. I felt something try to pull me back by the fabric of my dress, and I lost it completely. My eyes screwed shut and my arms went wild, flailing and clawing at everything while my legs kept on running and running. I felt the hold on my dress vanish – the fabric must have ripped – and heard a frustrated sort of scream break through my own screams of terror.

I heard a shout that sounded like my sister and looked over my shoulder. She was being held back by some pirate's filthy arm and her knife was nowhere to be seen. I stopped and was about to run back and help her, or try to, but another of the pirates saw me and shouted something incomprehensible to the others, pointing and I looked at Hylla once more, who was screaming for me to save myself, to get away, and I ran.

Tears flew down my face and I made a gasping, hiccupy noise deep in my throat. All of a sudden, there were people around me, pointing, yelling, asking things, and I was just overwhelmed. A man in a dark blue suit grabbed my arm and I twirled around, madness in my eyes. Through a sort of horrible, panicked haze, I heard him ask what was wrong. I just wrenched my arm out of his grasp and ran again, ignoring his shouts of protest after me. People managed to follow me when I was on the black ground, so I veered off into the dead grass and down a small area between two tall buildings. I closed my mouth, biting my lip to hold in all of the strange noises my throat insisted on making as I thought about Hylla.

As I slowed down, I became more aware of my body – where I was, what was around me, what had happened to me. I looked down at my left foot, which was covered in a dark, brownish-red sticky stuff that I assumed was mud and blood. That's when it began to hurt. I sunk down to the ground, holding in the noises again. A closer look allowed me to see that there was a sizeable chunk of what I guessed was glass jammed into the sole of my foot, and smaller pieces all over everywhere. Everything was bloody and filthy and I looked back and there was a trail of bloody footsteps behind me.

And that's how I ended up leaning up against a foul-smelling box on the ground of some alley, holding my bloody foot and crying and hyperventilating and trying to remind myself that I was a daughter of Bellona, and we did not get frightened, we did not get wounded, we did not cry, and we most certainly did not shiver in our bones and have to hold back a shriek when a cardboard box about a yard away began to move. Not even when a noise emitted from it. Or when a head popped out.

**A/N So, how was this? Too long, short? Believable? Bad, good? Suggestions?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N HOO and PJATO isn't mine**

**Book of the update: **_**Crispin**_** by Avi**

Chapter 4

I groped around blindly for my dagger, if only to reassure myself, but it wasn't there. Must have dropped it when I was running. Taking a deep breath, I tried to ignore the tight feeling in my throat that was making it hard to exhale. I stared at the spot where the head had supposedly popped out, but after a few moments of seeing nothing, I decide that's all it was: nothing.

I tried to close my eyes and figure out what I was going to do without Hylla. I needed to find her, and that's all I knew and my brain couldn't seem to focus on anything except the soggy cardboard box a yard away. It wasn't moving. Nope; not at all. It was just a nasty old box that someone had thrown away. Maybe it used to hold shampoo bottles. Or towels. Nothing out of the ordinary there. It was an ordinary box and there was nothing inside of it besides dirt and maybe bugs. Nothing else.

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

I started, a squeak coming out of my mouth before my hands could stop it. For a moment there was silence and I spun my head around wildly, trying to figure out where the voice had come from – that is, if I'd really heard anything at all. Maybe I was just going crazy…

"Helloooo? Girl in the white dress?"

Not knowing what to do, thinking it might have been a trap, I didn't say anything. Call me paranoid, but I didn't trust a voice floating out of a box in an alley right after being run down by pirates and shiny monsters and broken glass. The head pooped up again when I didn't answer, but it stayed this time.

"Can you understand me?" it was a boy, probably a year or so older than me, who had spoken.

I nodded, slowly scooting backward.

"Are you….do you need some help?"

I didn't say anything, still reluctant to trust the boy. Circe had once told me that men were lying, cheating, arrogant fools who weren't worth a woman's spit. That had seemed a bit of an exaggeration at the time, but after what the pirates had done, I wasn't so sure.

A cracking sound split through the air reverberating off of the brick walls surrounding me and I jumped to my feet, ignoring the pain as I stumbled away from the noise. A drunken shout followed the gunshot, and I gasped. I recognized that voice….it was the man who had always stood by the cells on Blackbeard's ship. The one who particularly _favored_ my sister, if you know what I mean.

I looked to the boy who was in the box, but he was gone. A glance behind me told me that it most definitely was the pirate, and that he was coming closer. I began walking away, keeping close to the wall to try and hide myself, but to no avail.

"Oi! Girl! Come back….I _own_ you!" he slurred in a drunken haze and I began to run as fast as I could with my foot in the state it was. I heard the uneven slaps of his boots behind me and tried to breathe deeply, forcing myself not to look back. I couldn't afford to panic right now.

And of course, right as I began to think that I could really get away, I tripped on something and actually fell onto my face. Blood was streaming out of my nose and my front teeth didn't quite feel right in my mouth, not to mention the pain shooting up from where the twist had broken away the slowly healing scab of my foot, which was bleeding again.

The mangled shouts behind me reminded me that I needed to get away, no matter what was wrong with my foot, but I found that once I tried, I couldn't stand. Maybe it was the pain, or maybe it was fatigue, but the last thing I remember was the box boy's concerned face before I must've blacked out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

My eyes opened slowly, stiff with sleep, to see a white ceiling with bright lights shining down on me. For a moment, I thought that the whole thing was a nightmare and I was back in the hospital room on Circe's island, but then I heard a beeping to my right and looked over to see a pale curtain thingy blocking me. I moved to sit up and when I did, I noticed a tube jabbed into my arm, right at the elbow.

Ok, so not a dream. I needed to get out of here. This place had a sickly feeling to it and who knew what they were pumping into my arm? I began to rip out the tubes, but someone pushed through the curtain at that moment and gently grabbed my hand, pulling it away from the tubes.

I scooted over to the far side of the strange white bed I was in, but only to calm my mind a bit. This man had a kind face, not at all like the pirates, and he seemed like he wasn't going to hurt me. He smiled at me and I relaxed a little.

"Finally awake, huh? How are you feeling, Miss….?"

I sat up straight and met his eyes. "Fine." I couldn't feel my left foot, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Well, you should be fine. We pulled all of that glass out of your foot and there was a minor operation of one of the tendons. You'll be free to go in a few days," he explained with another smile. I just nodded, not really understanding what any of that meant. "Now," he said, squatting down until our eyes were at the same level, "What was your name again? I'm afraid you little friend couldn't recall it either."

My….friend? What friend? I've only ever had two friends, Hylla and the girl who slept in a cabin near mine on the island, Penny. I had no friends here, on this strange land. I looked back at the man by my bed, confused, but heard myself murmur my name.

"Reyna? Ooh, that's a pretty name. And how old are you, Reyna?"

"12," I said quietly, trusting this man for some unknown reason.

"Oh, wow, Reyna. You're a big girl, huh? Almost a teenager. Now, one more question. Do you know where your parents are?"

I thought for a moment before shaking my head no. That was the truth. My father was in the far-away land of….um, Rica something, I think, and who knew where my mother was.

The man scrunched his eyebrows together. "Who takes care of you, then?"

"My big sister," I said, my voice coming out watery and pathetic like a very young child.

"Oh, I see. Where is she? You don't know? Do you know what her phone number is?"

I looked at him, confused. Phone number? I knew what her birthday is, but I think that's the only number I know about Hylla.

Something beeped again and the man stood up. "Okay, Reyna, I'll be back in just a little bit, okay? Try and remember that phone number, okay?" and with that, he left.

"What's a phone number?" I wondered aloud.

A head poked through the curtains. It was the box boy. He must have brought me here and that was….good? Yes, these people were trying to help me, I decided.

"I think _you_," he said, coming over and sitting in a chair by the bed that I hadn't noticed before, "owe me an explanation."

I opened my mouth, but wasn't too sure what to say, or even how _much_ I wanted to say. I knew that mortals weren't' supposed to know about the gods and Circe and the pirates, but…..what _were_ they supposed to know?

"Thank you," is what finally came out, and he looked shocked.

"Oh, um…you're welcome, I guess. I'm Leo, by the way. Leo Valdez," he said, rubbing the back of his neck like he was nervous.

"I'm Reyna." Whew, I was telling all sorts of people who I was today….

"Hi, I'm Leo. Oh, umm. Already said that, oops…"he muttered something under his breath that I couldn't make out. It sounded like Spanish; I could speak a little from when Hylla and I lived in….Rico? Rica….Puto Rica? Augh, whatever. We lived there with our father before Bellona took us to Circe's island.

Leo stood up, awkwardly shoving his hands into his pockets. "I'm gonna go….talk to the doctor. Yeah, that's it. I'll um…. I'll be back in just a minute. Later." I heard the faint cursing again as he walked out.

**A/N So there it is. Hey, Leo couldn't have always been "Mr. Hot Stuff" right? Anyways, suggestions? Comments? Concerns? **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I don't own HOO or PJATO.**

**Book of the Update: **_**Dragon Slippers**_** trilogy by Jessica Day George**

**P.S. Whoops, this one took a while, sorry, been working on other stuff. Just wondering, does anyone know any tricks for breaking a bad habit? Like biting my lips/cheek? Please help me lol**

Chapter 5

I had been in the white room, which I later found out to be the mortals' version of a hospital, for nearly a week, perhaps longer, when the doctor said that I was free to go. A quick recap on what happened- the mysteries of this world slowly unraveled to me as I listened, I had undergone a "mental health assessment", still don't know what that is, and the results came back um….not crazy? Still hadn't found my sister, and Leo visited every day, saying it was his "duty" as my rescuer or something. Who knows?

Anyways, I was better, I suppose. Ambrosia would have done a better job, and faster too. I was still on crutches when we left the hospital and a week that I could have used to search for Hylla had disappeared. It was almost hopeless now.

"So, your majesty," Leo said, mocking a bow. He's been doing that ever since he heard my name the first time, Jupiter knows why. "Where you goin?"

"I need to find Hylla." This boy was following me for some reason and because he saved my life, I decided to let him tag along…wherever we were going.

"Well, I'm not just going to let you wander around, so where do you think she could be?" I shrugged. "Okey-dokey. Let's start off with some food. You hungry? Great, me too. I was thinking pizza. Come on, then," he added as I just stood there, still in shock at some of the things he said. It was as if he was a recording that just kept playing on and on and on….I rolled my eyes and crutched after him. Hmm…crutched? Crutch-walked? Hopped?

When we got to the little pizza place, near the foul river by the smell of it, Leo held the door for me, still jabbering away, this time about screwdrivers or something, but I had tuned him out. I was sort of just blindly following him to the table and letting him tell the waitress what type of pizza I liked and that I would just have water, thank you, and then it stopped. I looked at him.

"Do you ever say anything?"

"You have a leaf in your hair."

His smile dropped into an exaggerated frown and he took the leaf out and threw it onto the ground. "Rude much? I just saved your life, took you to the hospital, waited for a whole week for you, and bought you pizza and you can't even bother to talk to me? Not even a thank you?"

"Thank you," I said quietly, suddenly aware of how rude I must seem. "I'm sorry, this is all just a bit different."

The smile came back. "Well, no matter how different it is, talking is always just talking. So…where are you and Hylla from?" I glared at him and he quickly changed topics. "Got a favorite color?" he asked, followed by a weak laugh.

I stared for a moment before I smiled. "Red."

His face lit up at that, as if he hadn't really expected me to answer. "Really? Mine's red too. Red or orange, I haven't decided yet. Although, I'm leaning more towards red now. Not because that's your favorite or anything, just….cause. Ooh, did you see that dog out the window? I love dogs. Always wish I had one. I did once, at this house, but then I uh…moved. He was a good dog though. You know what I've really always…" and on and on he went, but this time, I tried to listen as he talked about dogs and dragons and crayons and bands and his ripped jeans and anything else that popped into his head as he sat there, talking with his mouth crammed full of pizza, his free hand fiddling with some sort of fuzzy wires.

By the time we had finished eating, Leo had managed to pull me out of my shell and we were having an actual, two-sided conversation about machines. He held up his hand for me to see the tiny fuzzy wire air ship he had made, like the ones that used to land on the island. It flew up, right out of his palm and I watched in amazement as it went a few feet before falling to the ground.

"Eh. Would've been better if I had a rubber band and maybe a staple," the words were disappointed, but the look on his face was just….happy. That little smile of his was just contagious and I found myself smiling as I crutched out of the pizza place and down the street after him.

I looked up at the sky as it began to darken and I heard Leo curse in that language again. "What?"

"Can't exactly stay where I usually do, not with your leg in that condition." He sighed. "Come on."

I bristled a bit when it seemed he was saying I was weak, but curiosity soon overwhelmed the feeling. "Where are we going?"

"Umm….foster home. I ran away a few weeks ago; this is the longest I've gone without being caught, but I suppose we'll have to go back." He sighed again and I stayed quiet, though there were a million questions running through my mind. What's a foster home? Why was it bad? Why did he run away? Who _is_ this Leo Valdez, anyway?

When we got to the door of a nice, if shabby, looking house with a faded welcome mat on the steps. He took a deep breath and rapped three times on the chipped wooden door.

It swung open almost immediately, revealing a rather large woman wearing what appeared to be a giant rainbow quilt. After the initial shock, I got used to it and looked up at her face, which looked kind, if a bit off, and the shock of white hair frazzling out around her head. Just as I had gotten used to this eccentric woman Leo Valdez had pushed into my path, I was shocked still when large meaty arms enclosed around me and Leo both, a squealing sort of noise coming from the back of this woman's throat as she squeezed us, swaying back and forth and making the strange noises. Leo awkwardly patted her back and gave me an apologetic glance, but I was in absolute shock. That's the only word I have for it.

When the woman released us, the noises stopped to allow jumbled and rushed words out of her mouth. "Ooh, I told 'em you'd be comin' home! I told 'em I did; I said I know my Leo ain't gon' leave me and Timmy boy. Nope. Not my Leo boy. Ooh, I told 'em! And he's brought a girly friend too, bless 'er!" her voice was strongly accented with….something…I hadn't heard any accent like it, not even on the island.

Leo put his hand on her arm when she stopped and patted awkwardly. "Um, yeah. Back now. This is Reyna," he added, gesturing to me, and the woman grabbed my face and planted a squishy noisy smooch on my forehead.

"I'll make some muffins. JIMMY-BOY! 'E'S BACK I TOLD 'EM SO!"

When her back was turned as she walked into the kitchen, Leo grabbed my wrist. "Ok, we'll be in my room," and he proceeded to drag my crippled self down the hall and into what was apparently his room.

He shut the door behind us, a relieved sigh escaping him. "Whew. Sorry about that. She's not really a bad person, just a bit…."

"Out there?" I finished and he nodded.

"Out there. Exactly."

A knock on the door-well, I say knock, it was more like someone slamming some sort of metal against the beaten down wood- made us turn and Leo step away so the door could be opened. When it did, it revealed a toothless little boy with a red metal truck in his hand, obviously the cause of the noise.

"Weo! Weo! Mom said you wew gonna come back, but I didn believe 'her, cause you never come back. Look, Leo, I lost anofer toof!"

Leo rubbed the kid's head, fluffing up his hair. "Wow, sure did, sport. That's awesome."

The little boy beamed at him and then turned to me. "I'm Jimmy. Are you and Weo gonna get mawied like in movies?"

I laughed a bit, sure my face was bright red. "No, no. We're just friends, Jimmy. I'm Reyna, by the way," I said awkwardly. I wasn't good with kids; they're too….messy or something.

He looked a bit down, but the toothless smile soon came back. "Well, that's ok, cause I don't weally like movies like that anyway. Those awe for giwls. Did you see my toof?" he showed me the spot where the missing tooth was and I pretended to be impressed, wowing and all that before he smiled again and ran down the hall.

**A/N So? How was it? Do you like Jimmy? He is sort of modeled on this adorable kid I know…very cute. About 5.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Me no own.**

**Book of the Update: **_**The**__**Great**__**Gatsby**_** by F. Scott Fitzgerald**

Chapter 6

I smiled as I watched Jimmy run down the hall, toy truck in hand. He was a cute kid. A gust of wind from an open widow blew into the room and I scrambled to push my dress down and hold onto my crutches at the same time. I ended up on the ground, cursing. This dress has been through Hades. I managed to get it washed at the hospital, but it's still ragged and too short and torn up. Leo held his hand out and I gratefully took it, ungracefully pulling myself up and shoving the stupid crutches under my arms, wincing as I stretched out the stitches on my leg and foot.

"Leo, could I borrow some clothes?"

His smile was cool, but the redness of his ears betrayed him. Yep. Definitely needed some pants. He walked over to a faded wood dresser and pulled out a red T-shirt and some khaki shorts. Glancing at them, he looked up at me and back at the clothes before pulling out a belt as well.

He handed the clothes to me with a shrug. "Sorry, princess, it's all I've got. We can get you something that'll fit later, kay?"

A smile managed to work its way onto my face as I took the clothes and thanked him. I seemed to smile a lot more around him. Weird.

For a moment, we awkwardly stood in silence until I broke in. "Um, Leo? Could you…" I gestured to the door and he seemed to get it.

"Oh yeah! Sorry, I…sorry," he muttered sheepishly before creeping out the door and shutting it behind him.

He was so cute sometimes. Oh my gods, did I just think that?! No, I meant cute, like a stupid dog, or a baby that can't talk. Right, that's what I mean by cute. Not like _cute_ cute. Just baby cute.

I rolled my eyes at myself. What have I turned into? Maybe Circe was right; I think these mortal boys mess with your head. I crutched over to the bed and sat down, dropping the crutches on the floor beside my feet. Right, this should be interesting. I yanked up the hem of my dress, somehow managing to get it over my head without standing up, and threw it across the room where it caught on the dresser and hung there.

I pulled Leo's pants carefully over my feet and managed to get them up to my knees before it became obvious that this was not going to work. I stopped and they sagged to the floor. I'll bet that I looked pretty pathetic in that moment, slunched over on a boy's bed in just my blue underwear with the word Sunday written in white across the bum, bandages wrapped all over my left leg. I grabbed one of my crutches and put it under my left arm and stood up, standing only on my right foot and using that hand to pull up the pants, while the other held onto the crutches for dear life.

When the pants were successfully on, I plopped back down onto the bed and threaded the belt through the loops, tying it ridiculously tight to hold up the shorts that were not only big, but long on me as well. I picked up his shirt and slipped it over my head. It came down nearly to my knees. Gods, I'm short! I tucked it into the too-big shorts and shakily stood up, leaning on my crutches. When it seemed that the clothes were as fit as they would ever be, I crutched out of the room and down the hall to where I heard people talking.

They must've heard me come in, cause Leo, who was facing the other way, turned around to look at me and almost immediately burst out laughing.

I frowned. "What?" he only laughed harder at this, "What?"

He shook his head, mumbling something in some other language. "Nothing."

I frowned again, but let it go this time. Leo's….the woman offered me muffins and I gladly accepted, sitting at the wooden table to eat it. "So, Ms.….?" I trailed off, hoping to get some sort of name from her.

"Oh, no need ta' be so formal, missy Ray-nah, just call me Auntie Bev," she said with a charming, if somewhat startling, grin, and I smiled back, rolling the word around in my head. _Auntie_…

Leo clapped his hands loudly, breaking into my word-rolling, and stood up, as if he were announcing something, but it turned out to be that he needed to phone someone, whatever that meant. He took a square black object from the table and left, walking down towards his bedroom. I turned back to face Auntie Bev and Jimmy again, chewing my muffin slowly.

For a moment, we were left in awkward silence, but Jimmy soon broke it by blowing bubbles in his chocolate milk and making me laugh when it splattered up and hit his face. Smiling, laughing, joking….maybe these mortals weren't so bad after all. I don't remember ever really smiling on the island, not even with Hylla. I was about to say something, but a yawn took its place and I couldn't seem to remember what it was.

"Look at you! You're exhausted! Tell ma' Leo to get off that phone call a' his and come an' set up his bed on the couch. You can sleep in his bed, ain't gon' let a guest in this house have nothin' less!"

I smiled again and stood up, readjusting my crutches. "Thank you….Auntie Bev. And the muffin was delicious, by the way," I said, looking to the empty muffin paper on the table where I had sat.

"Night, Weyna!" Jimmy called after me as I was about halfway down the hall. I paused.

"Goodnight."

I walked into Leo's room and he was sitting in a corner, a few tools and an awful bunch of metal bits and bobs strewn around him, phone pressed to his ear. He looked deep in concentration, but I coughed a bit to let him know I was there. He looked up with a startled and somewhat guilty expression and I was too tired to dwell much on it. Who really cares anyway, right?

"Your….Auntie Bev said to go set up bed on the couch, cause I'll be sleeping in here," I told him and he stood up, having gathered all of his gadgets into the pockets in his coat and turned the phone off.

"Great. I save your life and you take my bed," he grumbles and I was about to apologize when I saw the teasing glint in his eye and smacked him.

"Get out."

He left, shutting the door behind him, and I sat on the bed, carefully leaning the crutches against the wall where I would be able to reach them when I woke. As I lay down on my side, wary of the stitches in my leg, I stared at that door. This was the first time I had gone to bed without a weapon of some sort. Even in the hospital there were metal instruments that could be used as a weapon if necessary, but here, I had the option of crutches or a pair of checkered boxers lying on the floor by the foot of the bed. But, then again, Leo would protect me, wouldn't he? I hated relying on someone else, but this was different….this was Leo. He'd already saved me enough times to where I trusted him, though why I still don't know.

I fell asleep and dreamed of the island, the way it was before the pirates, when the skies were cloudless blue and the water was crystal clear and beautiful, the sun sparkling off its surface. I dreamed of the animals that used to roam about and the friends I'd made and I dreamed of my sister. My big sister, all alone in that big world out there with those pirates after her….I was going to find her. Leo had promised me.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Io non aquisto. Capisce?**

**Book of the Update: **_**The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud**_** by Jenny L. Cote**

Chapter 7

I woke up in a strange room, wrapped up in a blanket so tightly that I couldn't move and for a few moments I lay there frozen until I remembered where I was and relaxed. Leo's house, how had I forgotten?

I tried to wriggle my way out of the blanket, ending up on the floor, even more twisted up than I was to begin with.

"Need some help there, Your Majesty?" before I could respond, he's unwrapped the blanket and set me down on the bed, holding out the crutches for me to take, which I refused. My leg didn't hurt at all and it felt stable enough to walk on. My foot stung a bit, but not too much.

"Thanks," I muttered, red-faced to have been caught in such a pathetic situation. What kind of warrior gets herself trapped by a _blanket_, of all things? Trying to change the subject, I asked him a question that had been bothering me for some time. "Why do you call me that?"

"What?" he asked, his voice sounded distant and he was looking at something behind me. I waved my hand up and down in front of his face and he looked at me again. "Sorry, what?"

I rolled my eyes. "Never mind. What were you looking at?"

His whole demeanor changed the minute the words slipped out of my mouth. His face was still that elfish face I had come to know, but it seemed as though he was on guard or something. I smelled pancakes and quickly brushed it off as the stupidness of males, like Circe used to say, in favor of syrup-coated food.

I plodded down the hall, my feet slapping noisily on the hard wooden floor as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with one hand, pulling up my-Leo's pants with the other. Even with the belt, they were much too long. Leo was too tall, I decided. I had to look up at him- if I didn't, the top of my head came only to just below his chin. It made me feel rather short. And skinny. Leo was skinny, but his clothes were still much too big on me and it made me feel like a little girl.

When I reached the kitchen, I was handed a plate with a stack of pancakes dripping with sugary sweet syrup before I could even open my mouth to say good morning.

When I did get the chance to say good morning, a yawn came out before the words could make it. Guess I'm still sort of asleep I thought, grinning sheepishly. I grabbed a fork sat and at the table, shoveling food into my mouth like I'd never eaten before. Auntie Bev pressed a button on this little black thing and a box in the corner lit up to show a picture – no it was moving, it was a hologram! But these were mortals, how could they have something that only Vulcan himself knew how to make? The woman in the hologram held a strange object near her mouth, as if she were speaking to it, and then pushed it over to a man next to her. It must've been a bad hologram, because their mouths were moving, but no sound was coming out.

Jimmy pushed a button on the same thing that Auntie Bev did and we could now hear the people in the hologram box talking. I stared, transfixed, at the box, pancakes forgotten.

The blonde woman holding the grey stick looked right at us, smiling and brushing her hair out of her face. "That's right, folks, it looks like our beloved athlete will not be competing in the upcoming Olympic games, but has decided to step aside for newer players to represent America. And now back to you, Steven." She smiled and the hologram changed to show a man at a desk. He was smiling too. "Thank you, Cathy. There have-"

"You gonna watch that thing all day?" Leo cut into my fascinated gaze.

I spun around to him. "What is it? Who made you this technology?"

He chuckled slightly. "Um...It's a TV?" it sounded like a question and I raised my eyebrow. He glanced at it again. "And it's made by….Samsung. Says it right there," and he pointed. Samsung. I would have to pray to the gods later and ask about this mystery man, Samsung, who could recreate the technology of the god Vulcan.

I turned back to look at the box once more, and gasped when I did. Hylla was there, on the hologram. But it wasn't a hologram, just a picture _on_ the hologram, I realized sadly when it didn't move. It was a picture of her running, a pirate grabbing her arm. It was blurry, but it was most definitely Hylla. The man next to the picture, the one behind the desk, was saying something that I missed the first part of… "….running around the city. We are unsure, at the moment, who her attackers are, but most likely some sort of gang, but we have found that they are very dangerous men. If you have any information about them or the unknown girl in the photograph, please call and report it…." I tuned out there, spinning to face Leo again.

"That's my sister! That's Hylla!"

He sat up straighter immediately and looked closer at the screen. "Well, she can't have gone far in just a few days, so she's probably still in Santa Cruz, maybe somewhere around that alley where you were….? No, that was _days_ ago." He blew air out through his lips, making a puhpuhpuhpuh sound that made me bite my lip to stifle a laugh. I really needed to work on that, not laughing at everything this Leo boy did.

He stood up and walked toward the door, waving to Auntie Bev and Jimmy. "I'm sure we'll be back, just gotta find her highness's big sister, really, shouldn't take long," he added with a final charming smile that just oozed deceit. Why did I trust this boy? Wait, no, that's right, I didn't. right? No. of course not. Huh. like I could ever trust _Leo_ _Valdez_.

I got up quickly and followed him, shoving the last bit of pancake into my mouth and waving back at the stunned occupants of the table. He handed me a pair of torn up shoes that he had pulled from a box by the door. "My old sneakers. Better than bein barefoot anyway," he said when I gave him a questioning look. I put them on and watched as Leo made a big show of blowing kisses before he shut the door, grabbing my wrist. Well, hand really, but more of my wrist. We weren't holding hands. Wrists. Totally different. He pulled me away and down the steps and down the road and I was at a complete loss as to where we were in just a few moments.

"Gotta get away before they realize." He muttered and I scrunched up my brow in confusion, but let him pull me around corners and across streets and behind buildings none the less. We stopped in front of an impressive looking building with something about police written on the door. Was that like a policy? Circe had had policies, I knew what they were, but why were we here, we needed to find my sister. I planted my feet as Leo tried to drag me up the stairs and into the building. He looked back. "Well, come on," he said, sounding exasperated.

"What are we doing here? I have to find Hylla!"

"Yes! The police will help you find Hylla, it's all…..it's hard to explain, but they're on our side, promise." I rolled that thought around for a bit. Promise. "So may we proceed, your majesty?"

I narrowed my eyes, but let him lead me up the steps anyway. "Why do you call me that?"

"Do you want me to stop?" he countered and I blinked, a bit taken aback when I realized that I didn't. No, I sort of liked it. Sort of. I shook my head and he grinned like a madman. "I was hoping you'd say that, cause I wasn't going to either way. It's just better when you're not mad."

I huffed, but before I could respond, a man in a dark blue uniform and a shiny badge on his chest walked over and I forgot what I had been about to say.

"Can I help you kids?"

Thankfully, Leo took over as I'd become tongue-tied. "We saw that girl on the news this morning, sir. My friend is pretty sure it was her sister, who's missing."

The man looked at me. "Your sister, you say?" I nodded. "What's your name?"

"Reyna." He looked at me expectantly, and Leo muttered in my ear something about a last name. I thought for a second before I said "Reyna Garcia." That had been my father's last name, so I guess it was mine.

"Ok, Reyna Garcia, what's your sister's name? The one who's missing?"

"Hylla."

"How long has she been missing?"

"I-uh….I…" couldn't remember. I had been unconscious in the hospital for most of the time, so I really didn't know. Thankfully, Leo cut in.

"Almost a week. Since last Tuesday."

The man turned to him. "And who are you?"

"Leo Valdez, sir," wow, he sounded so respectful and nice….what happened?

"Leo Valdez, well I'm going to take you and Reyna back here for some questions, okay? Now, Reyna, where are your parents?" I shrugged again. Why did all these males ask the same questions? "Well, who takes care of you, sweetie?"

God, he was talking to me as if I were 3. "My sister."

The man stood up straight. "Okay. Well, follow me and we'll get this all sorted out, eh?"

We followed him back into a room with a few chairs and a desk with a phone on it. (Leo had explained a phone to me after I got out of the hospital) He left us there for a few minutes and then returned with a few more men in uniforms and a woman in the same uniform. They looked nice enough, but you never know….could be monsters in disguise. Cyclops or Kindly Ones or anything! I scooted my chair a bit closer to Leo and just smiled nervously when he gave me a questioning look. I almost rolled my eyes. Mortals. Trust anything.

**Question of the Day: What time period would you travel to if you had a time machine?**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Io non aquisto; capisce?**

**Book of the Update: **_**Dragon**__**Spear**_** by Jessica Day George**

Chapter 8

After the police asked me and Leo what seemed like millions of useless questions, it became apparent that we would get no help from these mortals. Leo made some excuse about being home in time for dinner and we quickly left the building, though we weren't headed back to Auntie Bev's house.

"Well that was pointless," I grumbled as we made our way down the street, still going fairly slow cause of my leg. It was better, sure, enough for me to walk on it, but it still hurt like Hades – er, Pluto, that is. Hurt like Pluto just doesn't sound as good I thought sadly. Sometime when I was thinking it must've started to rain without my notice, because next thing I knew, there was water going down the back of my shirt and my slightly wet hair was hanging straggly in my face. I blew air out my lip, trying to move the hair, but it didn't work. Oh well. I was content to walk in silence, but Leo seemed to think that talking was required for walking.

"So who are you really, Reyna Garcia?" I gave him a blank look, not getting what he was asking. "Like are you some secret missing princess or something? Cause if you are, I am so getting a reward later, right?" I gave him the look again. "Okay, I get it. No reward. But what about like, a title or something? I'm thinkin Prince Leo. No, that sounds gay. What about Lord Valdez? Oh yes, I am totally getting people to call me that!" he punched his fist in the air and jumped up a bit, landing with a wet-sounding smack into a muddy puddle, sending brown liquid all over the both of us. I glared at him, and he put his hand down, shrinking back a bit. "Sorry."

We walked in silence again until Leo made a popping noise with his mouth. I glanced at him and he looked away, mouth closed, pretending to look at the rain clouds. I rolled my eyes and focused on the ground once more, trying to avoid the puddles. POP! I looked at him again, giving him my trademark "daughter of the war goddess" glare, and he ducked his head, lips pressed tightly together to avoid the temptation to pop again. But of course, Leo Valdez can't walk without making some sort of noise or movement and pulled the metal bits out of one of his seemingly endless jacket pockets and began to fiddle with it. Silence again.

This boy seemed to be rubbing off on me, because after a few moments, the silence became too heavy for me and I had to hear something, so I spoke. "So…." I said, unsure of what to say.

Leo grinned like a maniac, showing every single tooth in his mouth. "So, Your Majesty, where would you like to begin your search today?" he asked in a snobby sounding accent, bowing as well, just for affect.

I tried to keep a straight face, but for some reason the sides of my mouth kept twitching upwards. "Well, Lord Valdez, I think that it would be most beneficial to let my escort decide, as I am unfamiliar with the territory." Gosh, this accent was fun to do. I had heard it before on the island but I never realized how much fun it is to do.

His grin got wider, if that's even possible, and he bowed once more. "Quite right, Your Majesty. But seeing as we can't really just wander around looking, I propose that you let me take you somewhere. Show you the sights of this far-off land called Houston, Texas. So what do you say, is the court jester allowed to take the queen out for some fun?" he offered me his arm, a questioning look in his eyes.

I looked at him, the grin on my face growing wider and wider, and nodded, looping my arm through his. "Absolutely."

Leo took me to see a moo-vee; like those holograms I saw this morning, but huge and it told a story, a very funny story about a princess and a mouse. Then he took me to this giant building full of clothes and I got khaki short-pants that actually fit me and a red shirt that didn't fall down to my knees. And I got a red ribbon to match my shirt and pull my hair back into a braid, to keep it out of my face. Then we went and got ice cream, which I've never had before, but it's _fantastic_! My new favorite treat. Well, besides maybe ambrosia, but I was informed that ice cream will not turn every molecule in your body to ash, no matter how much you eat. I will admit some mortal inventions were pretty darn great.

I was having so much fun that I'd almost forgotten about looking for Hylla until Leo grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the outer edges of the park we were walking in.

"What is it? Leo?"

He motioned for me to be quiet and peered around the big tree we were hiding behind. I followed his lead and looked around the other side. I had to bite my lips to stop a gasp from coming out. Those damn pirates were here and they seemed to be looking for something. Or someone….._me_? I thought with a mental gasp. But…where was Hylla?

I spun around to look at Leo again and we slowly sunk down to the ground, backs pressed against the tree. I didn't realize that we were still holding hands until I tried to cross my arms, only to find myself connected to another person. I blushed, dropping his hand like it had burnt me. His face was red and he wouldn't meet my eyes, but that was ok. It wasn't like we could really talk or anything.

I could hear the grumbling voices of the pirates getting louder and louder, which meant they were getting closer and closer, and tried my best to resist the temptation to turn and look at them. It suddenly seemed as though everything in the park was silent except for the voices and my own breathing, which was shaky and came in fearful little gasps. I closed my eyes and sent up a silent plea to my mother to save us when the voices got so close that I was certain they were just behind the tree.

And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, that I was going to die right here or be captured and die on their ship, there was this growling noise. It sounded like a jaguar – I had heard that often enough on the island, but this wasn't friendly at all, this was a warning. And I didn't know if the warning was for the pirates or for the demigod and her mortal friend, cowering behind the tree.

When I thought that, it hit me, and I was ashamed. I was a child of Rome, a daughter of the war goddess Bellona, a survivor of Blackbeard, and I was fearless. With that thought, I slowly stood, ignoring Leo's protests for me to sit down, and walked around the tree to face the wretched creatures the Fates had thrown my way. If I fell today, I would go down fighting, not cowering behind some tree. If I fell, I would fall with honor; I would fall like a Roman.

**A/N Ooh, didn't want to cut it off there, but I did, for dramatic purposes. I will try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible, but in the meantime, how was this? Please tell me, I enjoy getting reviews :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Io non aquisto; Capisce? **

**Book of the Update: **_**The Hunger Games**_** by Suzanne Collins**

Chapter 9

"Reyna, what the hell are you doing? Get down before they see you!" Leo hissed, tugging on the hem of my shorts.

I brushed his hand off and stood taller, glaring at the pirates. The sword I was expecting to get in my gut, however, never came. They weren't even looking at me; just some stupid cat. Now _that_ pissed me off; I mean, if you're going to kill me, can you at least look at me? Acknowledge my existence? I grabbed a (slightly broken) branch from the ground near me and held it with two hands, unsure of what to do. Do I attack? Wait for them to attack? Wait for whatever made the snarling noise to kill off the pirates? I wasn't going to run; not again.

One of the pirates finally must've noticed that I was there, and he smacked his buddy on the shoulder, sloppily throwing one hand my way as garbled words I couldn't make out leaked their way out of his disease-ridden mouth. The third pirate turned and gave me a yellow-and-gold-toothed smile, which _absolutely_ did not send frightened chills down my spine. Absolutely not.

I felt a warmth on the back of my neck and my head turned just enough to see Leo there, standing hunched down behind me.

"If I get turned into a Leo-kabob, I'm blaming you," he whispered, his warm breath hitting my neck, and _that_ didn't send chills down my spine either. Absolutely not.

I was about to ask what a _kabob_ was when my attention was drawn back to the pirates and the jaguar, er, creature….with a gruff shout from the gold-toothed pirate.

I took a step forward, raising my makeshift club in what I hoped was a threatening way. "Where's my sister? What have you done with her?"

One of them, a big fat one, mumbled something to the others, just loud enough for me to hear. "Oh, you don' wanna know what I've done with 'er," accompanied by a round of drunken laughter.

Rage consumed me and I heard a feral growl - which I later learned came from my own throat – and the next thing I knew, I had my legs wrapped around the fat one's torso and my arms around his neck, clawing and strangling. My club lay forgotten on the ground beside Leo, my rage-maddened self preferred just arms and teeth. Yeah, I said teeth. Don't exactly remember what happened, but I heard a scream and there was blood and a chunk of something in my mouth and arms around me, pulling me backwards, off of the man.

I tried to spin around, limbs flailing wildly to fend off whatever had thwarted my attack, but the arms encasing me were too strong and my struggle was in vain.

"Reyna! Reyna!" Someone was shouting my name, really close to me, right next to my ear, and that's when I realized who was holding me back and it made me even angrier.

"LEO! Put me down! Let me go! Leo!"

My arm swung out and I hit something, scraping with my nails and he dropped me. I immediately jumped back up, spitting blood from my mouth – I was missing a tooth. Right on the side, there was a jagged hole where my tooth was gone. Huh, when did that happen, I thought absently as my tongue roamed over the hole.

I looked around for the men who had made the last seven months of my life absolute torture, but they were gone, leaving behind only blood and footprints, the cowards. Only the jaguar-creature remained. I slowly backed up to where I had stood before and quietly bent and picked up the branch, bringing it up in front of my chest as defense.

The creature leapt gracefully down from its perch atop a public bench and landed silently on the flattened grass. It snarled at me, walking slowly around me and Leo, like a vulture circling its prey.

As I watched it, my mind began to wander and I unconsciously started to lower my makeshift club. It really was a beautiful creature, enchantingly so. So beautiful…..

Unknown to me, my club was in the dirt and both Leo and I were slowly sinking as if to join it. We were on our knees, staring at the beautiful creature in our midst, enchanted. This creature wasn't an enemy. We didn't need to hurt it; something so beautiful couldn't possibly be anything bad. It could only be….pretty…..soft…..it could only be….

My eyes drifted closed; I must've been lying on the ground, though to this day I don't know how it happened.

"Yes, sleep children of the gods. Sleep….and _dream_," I heard the Voice in my mind and knew it was the creature. What other being could have a voice so soft, so beautiful?

"Silly little demigods. If you sleep you dream. And if you dream, you can't wake up," this time, the Voice was followed by a soft and beautiful, yet somehow maniacal, laugh. I didn't know what it was saying, and I didn't care. I only wanted it to speak again, to speak its wonderful Voice again in my head.

"And if you can't wake up….." the Voice came back again, soothing my worries, and I smiled, my mind sinking deeper and deeper into the beautiful Voice. "….the prophecy will never be completed!" the Voice came as a horrid screech this time and my eyes opened, my body shot up off the floor and I blindly lunged out with my tree branch, trying to knock the brains out of whatever it was.

When I finally saw it, I automatically recoiled. This was _not_ the beautiful creature that had once been so enchanting. This _hag_ was the perfect embodiment of a storybook witch, warty nose and all. What had happened to the beautiful jaguar creature I didn't know, but the sight of the witch made me fully come back to my senses.

I swung the club outwards, aiming right for the hag's temple, but just when the wood made contact, she vanished in a puff of dizzyingly scented purple smoke and I very nearly fell back down to the dirt and took a nap right there.

I shook myself out of it, grabbing Leo, who had already sunk down to his knees again, and pulled him away as fast as I could, trying to focus my thoughts on the hag, not the jaguar, not the smoke. The awful, horrid, evil old hag that had tried to kill us or put us in eternal sleep or something.

Once we were a safe distance away from the smoke, Leo seemed to regain his senses as well and shook his head, dropping my hand to rub his eyes.

He probably had a million questions, but I ignored him, pacing back and forth as I thought aloud. "I'm assuming that the creature was some sort of shape changer, something that could change how we saw it. A Mist-manipulator? No. some sort of Siren, perhaps…a land Siren. It said…Leo what did it say?" I couldn't remember, and judging by the look on his face, he couldn't either.

"It um….it said….uh…." he rubbed the back of his neck, an expression somewhere between sheepish and confused on his face. "I can't remember."

I shook my head. "No, neither can I. So it was probably messing with our heads as well as our eyes. And our- wait a minute, how did we end up on the floor? It was putting us to sleep, very very slowly, but it was, yes?"

Leo looked flustered at the pace words were coming out of my mouth. "Uh…yes. No. Wait…."

I ignored him again, pacing once more. "It wasn't a god, I know that, but it seemed like more than just a simple monster. Perhaps some sort of…angel? Gods don't have angels, do they? But they have children…..the child of a god and a monster? Hmm….but which god?"

Leo flapped his hands around, stuttering noise coming out of his mouth as he tried to keep up. "But…phe-no, it….wha….but-ehhh?"

Ignoring.

"Bacchus, he could get into our heads…..Trivia maybe? Or….Ugh, think, Reyna, think!" I pounded my palm against my forehead, trying to smack some sense into myself. And all of a sudden, I got it. I stopped pacing and stopped smacking. "Somnus and Somnia. Of course," I breathed out the last words. The god of sleep and his son, the god of dreams. Of course, they had some sort of angel to do their bidding! Or a relative…? A blessed creature? UGH! I went back to smacking myself again, and frustrated tears began to form in my eyes.

A warm hand grabbed my wrist, stopping me from hitting myself. "I heard you lose brain cells every time you do that." Leo said solemnly – since when is Leo Valdez _solemn_? – And I looked up at him before jerking my wrist from his grasp and smearing my hand angrily across my face to wipe away the tears. Romans don't cry. Romans are strong. I took a deep breath and looked at him again.

"Sorry."

His eyebrows went up under his curly floppy hair in surprise. "Did you just….apologize to me?"

I frowned. "Leo…"

He waved his hand. "Alright, alright, _sorry_. But I need an explanation. I think I deserve one after that," he gestured wildly to where the…._incident_ had occurred, "Who are you, Reyna Garcia?" he whispered, asking for the second time today, and I found myself willing, but unable to answer.

"I….." the tears came again, but I couldn't stop them, not this time. "I don't know."

And Leo's arms were around me and I was crying on his shoulder and I really hoped that my mother couldn't see me now, because what would she say? Her daughter, crying pathetically onto some mortal's shoulder. Gods, maybe Reyna Garcia isn't even _Roman_ anymore! Maybe she's just some stupid little girl from a stupid little island who can barely even save herself, let alone her sister. Maybe Reyna Garcia was just an awful person to be.

Maybe I didn't want to be her. Maybe I wanted to be me. And I'm still learning who me is, but trust me, she's gonna be _great_.

**A/N So….how was it? Believable? Sad? Pathetic? Inspiring? Creepy? Funny? Awful? Good? Tell me, please :) Let's see, can we get to 40 reviews? Pwetty please? This chapter was one of my favorites to write, but I'll accept criticism and stuff on it, so tell me what you thought!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Me no own.**

**Ok, so we didn't quite make it to 40. Try harder this time! **

**Book of the update: **_**The Wolves of Andover**_** by Kathleen Kent**

Chapter 10

I took a breath and composed myself before I softly pushed Leo's arms away. He gave me a concerned look, but my emotional state seemed to be good enough for him and it soon changed to confused and he opened his mouth to start the flood of questions that I knew would come eventually. I groaned, mentally preparing myself. I had to tell him something; he deserved that at least, but not _everything_. Best keep it as simple as I can…

"What do you want to know?" I asked in what I hoped was a pleasant and helpful tone. It _may_ have been irritated, but I tried, I really did.

He raised his eyebrows, his open mouth just sort of hanging as he thought about it.

"I um…." I rolled my eyes. He's already overwhelmed and I haven't even said anything yet. "What happened? What was that thing?"

I narrowed my eyes. Hylla had told me about the Mist, but I wasn't really sure how much it would hide. "What do you think happened?"

"Um…there was those guys who were after your sister and some cat thing and the guys attacked us – or you attacked them, really – and then the cat started…talking?" he looked at me for confirmation and I nodded.

"I fell asleep, I think…..then some old lady caught on fire or something and you pulled me over here. Then you hugged me," he said the last part with a ridiculous smile on his face.

I rolled my eyes again. "Yes. And I did not hug you, I just…I needed something to lean on. Yeah, that's it. I lost my balance and needed something to lean on. It could very well have been that tree, you just happened to be closer and why am I defending myself to you?" I crossed my arms, raising one eyebrow. He just grinned bigger.

"Ok, sorry. But that cat – or maybe it was the old lady – said something about children of the gods? What does that mean?"

Hmm, how to answer that one…wait, hang on a second – "You remember what it said?"

He shrugged. "Bits and pieces."

"Like what?" I pressed and he scrunched up his face, thinking.

"Something about a….._prophecy_? And sleeping. A lot about sleeping."

"Okay, a prophecy, children of the g-wait! _Children_? As in plural?" I spun my head around wildly, looking for Hylla or any signs of another demigod.

"Hylla! HYLLA!" no answer. Not even the tell-tale crunching of leaves underfoot.

Leo didn't remember much; he probably just said it wrong. Probably meant _child_. Hylla wasn't here.

I shook my head to clear away the thoughts. "Right, so there's a prophecy. Prophecy…..never heard one; maybe it hasn't been made yet? Hmm….no, that doesn't even make sense….ugh! I wish Hylla were here; she'd know what to do," I grumbled the last bit with a frown.

Leo gave me a look. "Right…..are you sure that you're completely sane, Reyna Garcia?"

"Don't call me that!" whoops, came out a lot harsher than I'd intended. "I'm just Reyna now. _Just_ Reyna."

He backed up a bit, hands in the air like surrender. I took another deep breath to calm myself; I seemed to be doing that a lot.

"Sorry," I muttered. "It's just been….it's been kind of a hard day for me, I guess."

Leo dropped his hands, an understanding look on his face. "Okay. I'll drop it, for no, but you still owe me an explanation, got it? I mean, we were just attacked by freaking aliens! It's like something from Star Trek, ya know? 'Live long and prosper' and all that."

I stared at him as he rambled, not having any idea what he was talking about. When he was done, he seemed to notice my blank look and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you've never seen Star Trek." Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow, and he sputtered. "But….never even heard of it? Captain Kirk, Spock, Vulcan, all that stuff?"

I was slowly shaking my head, denying everything he said until something came out that I recognized. "Vulcan?"

He smacked his hands together, making a loud clapping noise. "HA! So you _have_ seen it, you little liar, you."

I brushed his hands aside, focusing on more important matters. "You know Vulcan?"

His grin slipped. "Well, it's just a planet; can't really know it. I mean it's just a TV show and you've never seen it, have you?" he finished with a disappointed question that sounded more like a statement.

I rolled my eyes. Of course not. Like this pathetic little mortal would actually know the great god Vulcan. Thunder rumbled in the distance and I sent out a mental apology, though for what, I don't really know.

Leo had noticed the thunder as well, and he looked at the sky warily. "Looks like it's about to storm pretty hard, we better get inside somewhere." I just nodded, and he looped his arm through mine. "If I may, Your Majesty?'

I laughed, a genuine smile playing on my lips. "Lead the way, Lord Valdez!"

We made our way down the many confusing and twisty streets at a leisurely walking pace until it started to rain and we ended up running. Yes, running. And no, we were not holding hands; I was simply making sure he didn't get out of my sight because I didn't know where we were. And keeping his arm attached to mine seemed like the best way to do that. For safety.

We came to this little building with a person holding bread drawn on the glass door, the word Panera, whatever that meant, written above it in swirly letters.

Leo pulled me inside and pushed me over to an empty table, telling me to sit there and wait. He had to let go of my hand. Pshh, not like I cared or anything. Nope, just thought like it would be a good detail to mention in the story. That's all.

As I sat at the table, I looked around at the other people there, partly scouting for hidden monsters, partly just observing the people. Most were there with other people, but a few were alone, pressing buttons on silver or black box-thingies. There were a few little kids, but mostly adults and a few groups of people about my age.

Leo came back with a smile and a little black box with blinking red lights on it.

"What's that?" I asked as he sat down in the chair across from me.

"It's uh...this thing that tells us when our food's ready. I got you macaroni and cheese, hope that's okay," he said and I nodded. _What the heck is a macaroni_?

The black box began beeping and the red lights blinked faster as I stared at it, fascinated. Leo laughed a little at my face. "That's our food, hang on, I'll be right back." To my disappointment, he took the black box with him, and it was gone when he returned, carrying a tray with something very good-smelling on it.

He set the tray down in the middle of the table, handing me a bowl with yellow-ish warm stuff in it and a spoon. I sniffed the bowl experimentally and it made my mouth begin to water. I could hear Leo laughing as I attacked the _macaroni_, but I didn't really care.

"Have you never eaten here before?" I shook my head in answer, my mouth full of cheesy goodness. "Wow. They have these _everywhere_. Where exactly did you say you were from?"

I froze, slowly swallowing before I answered. "Um…the island."

He gave me a funny look, but seemed to drop the subject. "Okay, so when I was up in line, everyone was looking at me funny, so I was like what is there something on my face? And this old guy, right in front of me just started like laughing and I was like what? So then it…." I sort of zoned out as he told his story, making animated facial and hand motions to go along with it. I laughed and nodded to make it seem like I was listening, but really I was thinking about my sister, and if we would ever see her again. Wait a minute, when did I start thinking about Leo and me as a _we_? He and I weren't a _we_. Just…_me_ and _him_. Not _we_.

He caught me not paying attention I guess, because next thing I knew, he was waving his hand in front of my face.

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah," I laughed fakely, just in case it could still fool him.

He raised his eyebrow. "You didn't hear a word I just said did you?"

I smiled guiltily and he laughed. "Your Highness, we need to work on your attention span," he said, mock-seriously.

I slapped at his shoulder across the table. "You're one to talk!"

He looked at me confused. "What? I don't think I was paying attention, sorry," he finished with a teasing grin and I laughed.

He was a fun person to be around. Maybe Leo and I _could_ be a _we_.

**A/N what does a beta do? Do I need one? I've never had one, but if someone wants to explain and maybe even beta my story that'd be great…? Anywho, what'd you think? Now can we get to 40? 45?**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Io non aquisto.**

**Book of the Update: **_**Wuthering**__**Heights**_** by Emily Bronte**

Chapter 11

The first thing I became aware of was someone tapping on my shoulder. I instinctively reached a hand up to hit whatever it was, but something grabbed my hand and gently brought it back down.

"Rey. Come on, Rey, wakey wakey," a teasing voice said and I cracked my eyes open, blinking to adjust them to the bright light. As the blurriness cleared, I saw a woman standing there with an amused look on her face, looking down at me. And Leo as well, I realized when I tried to sit up straight only to be caught under Leo's arm.

Sure my face was bright red, I untangled myself with a muttered sorry and looked back at the woman who was biting her lip, obviously trying not to laugh. "Uh, we're gonna close in about ten minutes, just thought I'd let you guys know."

Leo smiled coolly, though he was pointedly avoiding my eyes and I could see the tips of his ears turning a bright red. "Thanks. We were just leaving anyway."

_Liar_, I thought, but decided against saying anything and just followed him out the door instead.

I didn't really want to ask Leo what had happened – whatever it was, we had ended up pressed very close together and it was a very awkward situation. I must've let my guard down and fallen asleep…._stupid_, I chided myself, _anything_ could have happened. We could've been attacked by the pirates or some stupid mortal or by _monsters_. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen any monsters since the pirates had been freed. The ones on the island had fled, but there had to be some here, right? Weird…it seems like they would've smelled a demigod and come after me by now. Maybe mother was protecting me, after all.

The last thought made me smile, and I guess Leo had finally built up the courage to stop ignoring me, because he smiled when I did – wait, was he _watching_ me? – and asked what I was thinking. Something about a….pony for my thoughts? Mortals have the strangest expressions…

"Helloooooo, Rey? You even listening? Yoo-hoo!" he waved his hand in front of my eyes and I snapped back to reality and glared at him.

"Don't call me Rey."

He pulled his hand back, sobering up immediately. "Right. Sorry, _Your_ _Majesty_," he added the last part with a grin. Gah! What is it with him and these stupid nicknames?

"So what now?"

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I guess we should probably find somewhere to stay for the night and uh…Aunt Bev's place is out, so…"

"Why?" I wondered in complete bewilderment.

He waved his hand away. "It's kind of a long story, but we can stay with my friend John…..if you want to, that it," he hastened to add as I began to look confused.

"Yeah, sure, but what….what happened to Auntie Bev? And Jimmy?"

He took a breath. "Okay, so I'm sort of….running away, I guess. I only went back because I had to but not again. If I go back again, I don't….I won't be able to….ah, never mind. Good thing I've already called Johnny-boy, eh? Told him I was back on the streets and might be over sometime, maybe with a friend – that's you – and he said it was fine. Might wanna warn you, though, he's kind of…._out_ _there_," he cracked a smile as he said the last few words and I wondered what exactly _out there_ meant.

"Umm….okay? Where is he, then?"

"Oh, not too far from here…"

We walked the rest of the way in silence until we came to a kinda shabby looking building and walked up a set of decrepit concrete stairs and knocked on a grey-ish door with the number 8 painted onto it.

"JOHN! DOOR!" A muffled voice bellowed from inside.

"BUSY!" Someone yelled back.

An annoyed grunt could be heard, followed by some crashing and a few curses and then the sound of a lock being undone. I stepped back behind Leo as the door swung open and peered around his arm – I only came up to about his chin, it's not like I could see over him – to see a guy wearing a stained grey shirt and blue striped boxers with green socks on and something wrapped around his neck. It looked like two little round Hephaestus-speakers on a wire; maybe it was a communication device or something.

The guy looked disgruntled when he saw Leo. "Oh. It's you." He turned around and yelled for John again before he opened the door wider and let us in.

When he saw me, his eyebrows raised. "And who is this lovely lady?"

Leo pulled a face somewhere between anger and disgust. "Gary, this is Reyna."

Gary took my hand and bent down, placing a kiss on the back of it while I watched, half amused, half creeped out. I pulled my hand back and discreetly wiped it on my shirt.

Gary was unashamedly staring at me and it was beginning to get uncomfortable when someone walked into the room from a hallway that I hadn't noticed before.

Leo seemed relieved as well, and swung his arm over my shoulders and steered me over to the boy who had just walked out. "John! Mah man! Haven't seen you in forever, bro," he said as they did some sort of weird handshake-thing. I looked between the two of them and then back to Gary who had retreated back to his coach and was now yelling at the box – I later learned it was called a TV – with the holograms on it. The speakers were over his ears and he was holding another little box that his thumbs were wildly flipping across.

I felt Leo begin to walk again and followed him, though I _did_ pull out from underneath his arm, giving him a glare. He held up his hands with an innocent expression on his face and I just rolled my eyes.

We walked into a room with lots of keep-out signs plastered onto the door, which closed behind us. I turned around to face the room and my jaw dropped. Every inch of wall had something stuck to it, whether it be some sort of technology or papers, and there were several tables with the same appearance. A bunk-bed was shoved haphazardly in the corner, though it looked like it didn't get much use.

John had sat down immediately once the door was shut and he began rapidly pressing buttons on a box with a different letter of the alphabet on each button, looking intently at the screen above it.

"So, Leo, you gonna introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," he said the last part to me. "John, this is Reyna. Reyna, this is John."

John nodded his head at me without looking away from the screen. "Pleased to meet you."

I grunted in response, gingerly sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk-bed, hoping it was alright. Apparently, it was, because John didn't even glance my way and Leo soon followed my lead, sprawling out with his back against the wall next to me.

"So, Johnny-boy, you got any news?"

John didn't look up, but the picture on the screen changed and he began rifling through the papers nearest to him. "There's been more activity here in the last month than there's been in almost a year, but there've been loads up in New York. I'm talking like even those idiots on the news noticed something about the unusual storms and something about Mount St. Helen, but here. Take a look at what I dug up."

He turned the screen a bit so we could see and there was a blurry image there of some sort of creature – it looked human, but it was breaking out of the mountain. Like literally, it was just coming up out of the mountain.

Leo whistled softly and John talking again, but I kept looking at the picture. There were little specks flying around the monster – that's defiantly what it was, straight from the depths of Tartarus – and to anyone else, they might just look like birds, but I could tell. The energy surrounding them….they were gods.

This wasn't even possible! Technically speaking, mortals shouldn't even be able to see anything at all, maybe just a bad storm or something, but I heard John say something about a humanoid form and Leo pointed the specks out on the picture.

Something was wrong. Something was desperately wrong. Why were the gods even up there? What were they fighting? If the gods were fighting something and the _mortals_ were noticing, that meant that it had to be bad news indeed.

**A/N So how was it? This is set during The Battle of the Labyrinth, by the way. Oh, and I found a beta! Juliana54321 is now my beta reader person :) Okey dokey, so….55 reviews maybe? 60 please? Reviews make me write faster and that means faster updates!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N Io non aquisto.**

**Book of the Update: **_**The Picture of Dorian Gray**_** by Oscar Wilde**

**Okay wow, 61 reviews?! Y'all rock.**

Chapter 12

I uncurled my legs and got up off the bed, leaning over John's shoulder to get a closer look at the screen. He seemed to – finally – notice that I was there and turned around to look at my expression. I tried to work it into one of simple curiosity instead of the confusion and dread I was feeling.

"W-what is that thing?" I asked him, waving my pointer finger at the blur on the screen.

He began pressing buttons again, and voices could be heard, talking about the picture. "…eruption of Mount St. Helens, but we can predict severe storms within the next few weeks as the atmosphere recovers from the shock of…." And I zoned out there; he was just talking about the weather.

Instead, I picked up a few papers from John's desk and began to inspect them. It was just ordinary lined paper with blue ink scrawled everywhere, like someone had been taking notes for a class or something. The messy handwriting was hard to decipher, but I managed to get the gist of it. Obviously, John had been working on this – whatever this was – for quite some time. I flipped through some more papers until I came to a whole bunch of drawings.

I picked them up, intrigued. The creatures he had drawn looked just like monsters that I had seen with my own eyes, and I saw drawings of people as well, giant people with an aura of power that was obvious to see, even in a drawing. The drawings of the monsters and creatures were impeccable, but the gods seemed a bit off. As if he had drawn them altered in some way.

"John, these are incredible," I told him, hoping to get out some information about how a _mortal_ of all things could possibly have seen _the_ _gods_. If he even was a mortal….

"Aliens," he replied, without even looking away from his screen, which was flickering rapidly between images. Okay, so not a demigod then. _Aliens_?

I looked back at Leo, as if for confirmation that this guy was sane, but he just shrugged. Real reassuring. We're staying with a guy who may or may not be sane. And he's not a demigod.

"Aliens?" I asked aloud and he nodded.

"The evidence is all there; you just have to be smart enough to see it." He tapped his fingers on the side of his head and I had to close my eyes to stop myself from rolling them. Oh yeah, this guy was a nutcase.

I went and sat back down next to Leo, taking the drawings with me. I had seen plenty of monsters and my fair share of gods as well. They came to visit the island every once in a while. Sometimes by accident. But I had yet to see a god's drawing that looked exactly as I remembered. Finally getting annoyed, I huffed and dumped the drawings unceremoniously onto a nearby table and then leaned back onto the wall, feet stretched out in front of me and arms crossed.

"You look like a toddler when you do that," Leo commented, smirking.

I'll give you one guess as to whose arm I punched after that.

After what seemed like _days_ of listening to John babble and Leo crack jokes, I finally heard something that caught my interest.

"…..of readings from around the Log Island area in New York. Lots of activity up there, not too sure what it could be, but I've been getting information about these people, look and act just like us, but they're really some sort of alien-human crossbreed. Freaky, isn't it? I've come up with a theory, it's basically-"

"Do you have a picture?" I cut him off, standing up and walking over to the screen again. "Of Long Island, where you said the uh….readings were?"

"Well, you see, that's just the thing. It all seems to be focused around this one specific area," John said, pulling out a map and pointing. "But it's strange, because it's nothing special; just some strawberry fields and an old farmhouse or something. But almost all of the high readings come from right there." He pointed again at the map.

I turned around to ask Leo if he recognized it, I'm sure he'd been to New York sometime, but he was fast asleep, drool dripping onto his shirt from his open mouth. I rolled my eyes and turned away from him.

"And uh, what exactly are these readings?"

He began pressing buttons again until he came up with this picture of some swirly gold stuff. "This," he gestured to it, "is what we've been finding in the air. I don't have a name for it yet, but it seems to appear in the air every once in a while in random locations. This is the diagram I created, in reality it's too small to even see. But it sends off a sort of frequency that I can pick up with this radio thing I've got. Most of it is picked up around this area."

He showed me a map on the screen, but this one was actual pictures, with street signs and those cans and everything. He made it closer and closer until we were looking at a big pine tree on a hill with a farmhouse behind it and strawberry fields to the left. There was a sign that said Delphi Strawberry Service. Delphi, where have I heard that before…?

Something on the picture moved and I blinked at it. It must've been like a live feed of what was happening or something. Anyway, on the picture, there was this girl with brown hair running towards the pine tree, looking back over her shoulder like she was being chased by something. That something soon made itself known as a hellhound. John gasped and began rapidly pressing buttons and writing things down, but I ignored him and kept watching the screen. The girl pulled out a knife from somewhere on the other side of her body and began madly waving it around to fend off the beast. It was obvious she had never fought something like this in her life, and it seemed like she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She finally managed to stumble her way up the hill and she collapsed onto the ground just past the big pine tree.

I watched her, watched the hellhound advance toward its prey as if I didn't care. And I didn't; she was weak. Weakness is not to be tolerated. To my confusion, however, the hellhound stopped just in front of the tree and growled menacingly before turning and running the other way.

"Impossible!" I thought out loud.

"Incredible," John muttered.

"Tacos," Leo slurred before rolling over in his sleep.

"It wouldn't just up and leave her! Not in a million years!" I said, once again, thinking aloud. Bad habit. Probably need to stop doing that.

"I've finally found proof of alien life forms!" John spun around in his chair, laughing like a madman, and trust me, I lived with Circe; I know what a madman's laugh sounds like.

"That girl…" I caught myself that time and began to think inside my head. That girl must've been a demigod for the hellhound to have chased her, but why did it leave? I stared at the motionless girl on the screen as if she would wake up and give me answers, but no luck there. Someone did come, though. Two boys and a girl came and grabbed the girl, towing her up the hill and down to the farmhouse. One of the boys stayed behind and sat by the tree, pulling out some sort of pipes. The tree – it seemed to be sick, now that I looked at it – slowly regained its color, but faded again when the boy stopped playing his magic pipes.

Were those kids….other demigods? Could this be like some sort of safe house? The monster couldn't cross the tree-line; did that make it safe for people like me? They could live a normal life? I stepped back a little as I thought about it. The longer I did, the more appealing the prospect sounded: a whole group of Roman demigods, living together in safety. Maybe they had even recreated Rome, with a praetor and statues of the gods and everything. It sounded very appealing indeed…I could have a life; maybe even be a high ranking officer or something. Hylla and I could go there, maybe meet siblings – I'm sure we had some, our mother being an immortal goddess with plenty of time on her hands – and be like normal people. But better, of course.

And Leo….Leo could keep running. He could keep being Leo and keep doing whatever it is Leos do. Without me.

And of course, as I made that decision, he chose that moment to say my name in his sleep. Twice. And then proceeded to fall off the bed.

"Wha…? Wha jus happid?"

0o0o0o0o0o

After several more hours of looking for more information on Delphi Strawberry Service, I finally got sick of yawning every three minutes and climbed up the ladder to the top part of the bunk-bed, leaving John alone at the desk, muttering things to himself and rubbing his eyes to stay awake.

I had told John about Hylla – not everything, just that she was missing and I needed to find her – and he promised to help me look tomorrow. He said that most of his technology and stuff was built by none other than Leo Valdez, who was currently a bunk below me, drooling and mumbling something about dirt.

I must've fallen asleep at some point, making my thoughts turn into dreams, because next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and I was sitting on a cloud. I sat up on my knees and leaned over the edge to take a look. I seemed to be over some sort of city, but everything was moving slowly, like it was all in slow motion or something. I looked back to inspect the cloud I was on and gasped when I did. This shining city in the clouds could be none other than Mount Olympus, home of the gods themselves. It was beautiful.

"Yeah, gorgeous," grumbled a harsh voice from behind me and I whirled around.

A large, filthy man with a beard and a reddish scared face was staring over my shoulder at the city. He wore a leather apron and a tool belt, and there were little sparks in his beard. I gasped and bowed my head immediately as I realized who it was.

"Lord Vulcan."

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the bowing and scraping. Now listen up. I've been shielding you lot from the monsters for a while, but as soon as that sister of yours gets back in the picture, the shields will crack. Don't ask me why; too hard to explain. Geez, I hate you organic life forms…" he added as I opened my mouth to ask why my sister would break the shields, and I shut it quickly. "Anyway, you need to remember this for a few years, so listen closely. One: beware the earth. Two: it wasn't his fault, so forgive him. He deserves it."

"Bu-but what are you talking about, My Lord?" I asked in totally confusion, trying to be as respectful as I could.

"You'll know when the time come, just don't blame him; he – oh, something's interrupted the connection. You'll be leaving now, but don't forget what I said," he said warningly, pointing his finger at me with a frightening glint of anger in his eyes.

I nodded and opened my mouth to answer, but it faded away too quickly. I was in quiet darkness once again.

Until I heard the loud sound of glass shattering and a body slamming onto the floor. I jumped awake, hitting my head on the ceiling. Cursing silently, I leaned over to see what it was, but couldn't see anything in the darkness.

Someone turned the lights on and I gripped the edge of the bed, preparing to jump whatever it was, but when I saw, I froze in confusion.

"Hylla?"

**A/N So…..? Come on; come on, how was it? I'm not updating until I get at least 10 more reviews!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N Io non aquisto.**

**Book of the Update: **_**Canterbury Tales**_** by Chaucer**

**Sorry, the last chapter wasn't beta'd. I forgot whoops.**

Chapter 13

"Hylla?" I asked, totally shocked.

She stood up from her crouching position on the floor and shook off the glass, wincing a bit as she noticed a particularly bad cut on her arm. John spluttered in confusion from his desk and Leo snored a bit. Gods, that boy could sleep through _anything_!

"Okay, I give it five minutes before they catch up. Come on, were leaving," she said in an authoritative voice that made me immediately climb down the ladder and swing myself around to land on the bottom bunk so I wouldn't step on any glass before I could get shoes on.

As I was putting my shoes on, I was silent, though I had many many questions buzzing through my head. Finally, I came out with, "What's chasing you?"

"Monsters." She replied like it was obvious, like I was an idiot for not knowing.

That was the reaction I got. After not seeing her for almost a month, not even knowing if she was alive or dead, the sisterly love I got was "come on were being chased by monsters". Not even "how you been" or "haven't seen you in a while" no. I got "monsters".

"Great to see you too, sis," I grumbled under my breath as I tied my – Leo's – sneakers. She gave me an irritable look and something made me think that she _had_ heard. Whoops.

"B-but this is….the readings off the chart….incredible! But it's just…not even…" John spluttered again, beeping Reyna with some sort of scanner.

She immediately pulled out her knife and swung around to face him. "Don't touch me, mortal!"

John looked absolutely terrified, so I took pity on Leo's friend and walked around between Hylla's knife and his face. "He's not going to hurt you, just ignore him."

She glared daggers at him before turning a strange look on me. "You made…._friends_ with these mortals?"

I almost rolled my eyes, but the look in Hylla's eyes stopped me. "Yes," I answered honestly, sneaking a glance over at sleeping Leo. My cheeks flushed as he mumbled my name again and I turned my attention back to Hylla. "Hylla, there's this place; I think it's like some sort of safe house for demigods, but it's like a whole little city! We could go there; be safe!"

She gave me a look before waving her hand at me to shut up and listen. We turned to look at the now broken-open window, where a faint snarling could be heard. Hylla stepped in front of me, knife in hand, ready to defend herself. I looked around me before coming back triumphantly with some sort of wooden stick. I think Leo called it a….basebat ball? Something like that. It was better than a tree branch, though. Much better.

The harpy that crawled in through the window was the first one I'd ever seen in real life and it was pretty freaky, not like the ones I've seen at camp now. No, this one was ugly and covered in hair and blood and dirt…and its _claws_, ugh. I'm ashamed to say that I backed up a bit just because it was gross. It screeched loudly and Leo finally woke up, screaming and jumping out of bed when he saw the harpy so close to his face. Poor guy.

As soon as the thing got all the way inside the room, it immediately lunged for Hylla, who flicked her wrist, impaling the harpy on her knife like it was nothing. She turned back to us as the harpy turned to dust behind her.

"There'll be more. We have to keep moving, Reyna."

I nodded mutely, my eyes flicking momentarily to Leo's and back again. I didn't want to leave him, but I knew this was coming. Heck, isn't this what I'd been waiting for? The moment when I would find my sister and we'd get on with our life? When did Valdez become part of the plan? He was just some mortal who had helped me – a friend. My best friend, even.

Hylla walked quickly out the door without glancing at anyone else in the room. I looked after her, not turning back to look at them as I muttered a quick thank-you to John and Leo. I began to walk after her, but someone grabbed my arm. I spun around, slightly disappointed when I saw that it was John, not Leo, who had stopped me.

He spluttered for a moment before blurting out a string of fast-paced words that I didn't understand. I just stared at him.

"What?"

He swung his arms wildly, finally grabbing my shoulders and shaking me a bit. "_Aliens_."

I looked to the ceiling, sending a prayer for patience to Bellona and took a deep breath before I looked back at John. "Yeah, whatever," I pried his fingers off my shoulders and gently pushed him back into his desk chair. "Aliens."

"Rey," the heartbroken voice was almost enough to make me break my façade and start crying right then and there.

Once I had composed myself, I turned to look at him, blinking back the tears. "Don't miss me too much, Valdez."

He smirked, but I could see the swirling emotions behind his eyes. "You wish, Princess." His voice took on a serious tone as he asked, "Where will you go?"

"I don't know," I said truthfully. I wouldn't lie to him. Never ever.

We had moved closer sometime – I don't know when – and now stood so close I could feel his breath hitting my face. I vaguely remember John mumbling something about privacy and leaving the room.

"Could….could I come with you?" Leo asked, sounding hopeful and heartbroken at the same time.

"No, Leo," I took a shaky breath after this, to compose myself again; the tears were getting harder and harder to hold back. "But I wish you could," I whispered the last bit as the tears finally spilled over and began to roll down my cheeks.

He reached out and wrapped his arms around me, letting me cry onto his shoulder. I wrapped my arms around his back and breathed in the scent of him so that I could remember forever. I felt him kiss the top of my head and his lips lingered there, mumbling words I couldn't understand. Didn't sound English.

From somewhere down the hall, I heard Hylla call my name in an irritated voice.

I finally pulled out of the hug, albeit reluctantly, and my hands fell limply to my sides, feeling empty now that they weren't holding onto Leo. "Don't forget about me," I whispered, pleadingly and he reached up his hands to cup my face, his thumbs wiping away my tears.

"Reyna Garcia from The Island, I will never ever forget you. Not in a million years. Y-"his voice hitched here and he blinked furiously, trying not to cry. "You're my best friend," he finally said, though it didn't really sound like what he had intended to say.

"You're my best friend, too, Leo," I mumbled, pulling my face out his hands and smearing my palms over the wet skin much too hard, trying to get rid of any traces of tears. "I'm not going to forget you, either, Lord Valdez," I joked, trying to bring back the lighter, joking tone that I associated with Leo in my mind.

He mock bowed. "You better not, Your Majesty."

I smiled a real genuine smile; that was what Leo did, he always made me smile, no matter what was happening around us. Or between us. I couldn't bring myself to say the word goodbye, so I just turned around, intending to walk away with my last memory of Leo being his mischievous smile, but as soon as I moved my foot to take a step, a hand had grabbed my wrist and swung me around and then Leo was kissing me.

It was over as soon as it had started and he released my wrist. There was a different sort of look in his eyes and he was a bit breathless.

"I'll be seeing you, then. Bye." And he had gotten back on the bottom bunk and curled up against the far wall, so I couldn't see his face.

"Leo," I called quietly once I had recovered from the shock of being kissed. (it was a good sort of shock, I decided later).

He looked up a bit hopefully.

"Everyone has their _own_ destiny. Go find yours."

And I left the room to join my sister on our quest for a better life.

**A/N Please, please tell me how this was? One more chapter, let's see if we can reach 100 reviews by the end? Pretty pretty pretty please? If we can, I'll write a sequel! **

**Plus, it's like, three days away from my birthday, so reviews would be like birthday presents!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Io non aquisto.**

**Book of the Update: **_**Cat Skidoo**_** by Henry Holt**

**A lot of the dialogue and stuff is straight out of MOA so it's not completely my writing. Sorry, guys.**

Chapter 14

"I swear it on my life."

"On your life?" Octavian looked meaningfully at the senate after Percy made his very risky announcement. "We will remember that, if this turns out to be a trick."

I almost rolled my eyes at him, but stopped myself when I remembered I was in the presence of the senate. Gods, that boy drove me insane sometimes. All the time. But I might lose the praetorship I had worked so hard during the war to gain if I tried to gut him with my knife.

A gasping messenger ran into the senate house, disrupting my murderous thoughts about Octavian. "Praetors! I'm sorry to interrupt, but scouts report-"

"Ship!" Tyson, Percy's Cyclops….brother called out, pointing at the gaping hole in the ceiling.

Sure enough, a Greek warship appeared out of the clouds, probably about half a mile away, descending toward the Senate House. As it got closer, I could see intricate designs and bronze shields along the sides and….a dragon. There was a giant metal dragon's head, right on the front of the ship. On the tallest mast, there was a white flag of truce flying in the wind.

"Praetors!" the messenger cried. "What are your orders?"

Octavian shot to his feet and started screeching something about deception and Greeks bearing gifts, jabbing his finger at Percy. His voice was calm, yet firm when answered with a strong no.

"You all raised me as praetor for a reason. I will fight to defend this camp with my life. But these aren't enemies. I say we stand ready, but do _not_ attack. Let them land. Let them speak. If it is a trick, then I will fight with you, as I did last night. But it is _not_ a trick."

All eyes turned to me. I studied the warship, which most certainly looked hostile, and then turned my gaze back to the occupants of the room, focusing on Percy. He was quite visibly becoming nervous, with good reason, too. If I vetoed his orders, there would be chaos and confusion everywhere, but the Romans would follow my lead. I had been their leader for much longer than Percy. I looked back at the warship once more. I trusted Percy to make the right decision. I really did.

"Hold your fire," I said. "But have the legion stand ready. Percy Jackson is your duly chosen praetor. We will trust his word - unless we are given clear reason not to. Senators, let us adjourn to the forum and meet our…new friends." The last words were chosen carefully, as I wasn't yet sure what the Greeks were to us; friends seemed the safest way to go.

Everyone stormed out of the auditorium, and I couldn't tell if it was from excitement or panic. A bit of both, I suppose. I walked over to Percy and stood at his shoulder.

"I support you, Percy. I trust your judgment. But for all out sakes, I hope that we can keep the peace between our campers and your Greek friends."

"We will," he promised. "You'll see."

I glanced up at the warship again. "You said Jason in on board…I hope that's true. I've missed him." It probably came out a little more wistfully than I'd intended, but Jason was my best friend. And, yeah, he was hot and I may or may not have had a little tiny crush on him. I marched outside with the rest of the crowd and stood waiting, trying to shield my eyes from the sun with my hand as I stared up into the sky.

I heard a pop and then the sharp sound of Terminus's voice echoing down from the ship. Oh, I hadn't thought of that….never mind nervous and paranoid Roman _citizens_, the Greeks weren't going to be able to get past our _statues_!

Some loud arguing and a few minor explosions, then the ship stopped moving and just sort of….hovered over New Rome. After a moment or two, a rope ladder dropped from the ship and a blonde girl in an orange shirt climbed down, jumping the last few feet to the ground. The crowd parted for her and she stopped in the middle, looking a bit awkward, like she wasn't really sure what to do next, so I stepped up through the crowd, stopping a few yards away from each other.

So this was the famous Annabeth. I have to admit, she's not what I had expected. Blonde hair thrown haphazardly into a ponytail, an orange t-shirt with something that looked suspiciously like oil stained onto the bottom hem, ratty cutoff jeans….she had bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept much for a while. As I looked at her eyes though, I could see a fighter. She was strong and smart and I could see what Percy saw in her. Any petty jealousy I had had for Percy's girlfriend vanished at that moment.

Speaking of Percy, he stepped up beside me at that moment, and something in the girl's face changed, but Jason shoved through the crowd and Percy's mystery girl lost my attention; it was all on Jason Grace.

"Jason Grace, my former colleague…" I almost spit the word colleague, because, yeah, I was mad at him. He just up and vanishes one day, leaving the entire of New Rome, not to mention Octavian, for me to handle on my own? Yeah, I was a little mad. "I welcome you home. And these, your friends -"

I was cut off as Percy flew by me, almost knocking me over, to meet Annabeth somewhere in the middle. For a moment, all was fine. They were kissing and talking like a perfect little couple, but then Percy was lying on his back on the stone pavement, Annabeth holding his wrist. She had Judo-flipped him over her shoulder.

I cracked a smile. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all. She seemed a bit more Roman than we'd been brought up to think the Greeks were.

The crowd behind me raised weapons and began to rush toward the couple, but I held up my hand. "Hold! Stand down!"

Annabeth pressed her forearm against Percy's throat and there was silence for a moment until Percy laughed. He was lying on the stone pavement with his girlfriend choking him, and he was laughing. Gods, he's great, I thought with a smile. They got up and Jason cleared his throat awkwardly, drawing the attention back to him.

"So, yeah…it's good to be back." A girl with choppy brown hair and gorgeous eyes shyly walked around from behind him and slipped her hand into his, (_Not_ jealous. I'm _not_ jealous.) followed by a tall familiar-looking boy with shaggy black hair and a black oil smear across his cheek. He looked at the crowd surrounding them and smiled a mischievous smile that seemed oh-so-familiar to me.

"Umm, this is Piper," Jason said, looking to the girl, who gave a little wave. "And that's Leo."

Oil-smear boy finally turned his gaze on me and my breath caught in my throat. Leo. Leo Valdez.

The smile dropped from his face, replaced by a look of disbelief, which soon melted into a genuine Valdez smile, the same one I hadn't seen since I was 12. He bent down and took my hand, kissing the back of it gently.

"Your Highness." I bit my lip to keep from squealing and attacking him in a hug, keeping my face neutral, but didn't pull back my hand.

Jason slapped at his shoulder. "Stop it." He turned to me. "Sorry, just ignore him."

I nodded blindly, still staring at Leo, who gave me a wink and flashed a peace sign. I couldn't bite down the smile that crept onto my face this time.

"And that's Annabeth. Uh, she doesn't normally Judo-flip people." Jason continued, stealing my focus away from Valdez.

"You sure you're not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?"

She grinned and held out her hand. "I only attack my boyfriend like that," she promised. "Pleased to meet you."

I shook her hand before announcing to everyone. "It seems we have a lot to discuss. Centurions!" they came forward. "Gwen, get the citizens out of the way, tell them we'll explain later. Frank, tell the legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. And, Octavian-"

"You're letting the intruders into the _camp_?" he asked in that screechy voice, elbowing his way forward. "Reyna, the security risks-"

I flashed him an irritated look. "We're not taking them into camp, Octavian. We'll eat here, in the forum."

"Oh, much better," he grumbled, "Let's relax in the shadow of their warship."

"These are our guests," I said, every word coming out clipped and very not-under-control. Deep breath. "We will welcome them and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely."

"Good idea," Percy put in. "Go burn your bears, Octavian."

I bit my lip again to not smile. "You have my orders. Go."

He left, but not before glaring daggers at anyone and everyone and giving Annabeth a distrusting look.

"Excellent." I turned to Jason, and to Leo, who stood right behind him, making a silly face at me. "Let's talk and see if we can have a proper reunion."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

About halfway through the long and seemingly never ending chatter and story-telling between the Greeks and Romans, Ella the harpy started spewing out a prophecy and things got a bit…sticky. Luckily, Annabeth (I was starting to like her more and more) stood up to Octavian, practically laughed in his face, and then left with Percy to see a tour of New Rome. Once she was gone, Octavian started up again with the whole "Treachery! It's a warship! Bleh blah bluh!" I wasn't really listening too much.

Leo offered to give him a tour of the Greek ship, to show that it really wasn't a threat, and when Octavian refused, he turned to me, pleading in his eyes.

"Would you like a tour of the ship, praetor? To be sure we aren't gonna, like blow up New Rome or something?"

"That is….a good idea. We'll convene a senate meeting in one hour. Make sure I'm back by then, Valdez," I said to him, pointedly ignoring the sputtering noises Octavian was making as he crushed some poor teddy bear.

We walked in an awkward sort of silence as Leo lead me through the city and back to where their ship hovered. Silence again as I followed him up the rope ladder and onto the ship.

"You have a nice ship," I commented, just to break the silence.

"Thanks."

Silence again.

"Do you wanna see the lower decks?"

"Sure."

We were walking down the stairs in that annoyingly awkward silence that just wouldn't seem to go away, but Leo finally broke it with something other than just monotone comments on the ship.

"Where's Hylla?"

I smiled – for some reason it made me happy that he remembered Hylla. "Down in the city somewhere. She's queen of the Amazons now, so she's just visiting."

"Oh, that's pretty cool. So what about you? You liking the whole 'praetor of New Rome' gig?"

"It's….."I trailed off, unsure what it really was. "Did you design this whole ship?" I asked, changing subjects to avoid answering.

He grinned. "Pretty impressive, huh? Better than a pipe-cleaner helicopter anyway," he said with a smirk, referring to something he had shown me back when we were little. I laughed a real genuine happy laugh. I hadn't done that in years; it felt good.

"There's that pretty little smile I remember," Leo teased, making me laugh more. "It's a pretty weird coincidence, huh? Me being captain of the Argo II, you being praetor of New Rome…"

"Leo did you….did you know you were a demigod when I knew you?" he shook his head and I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I didn't really like the idea of Leo lying to me.

"Just found out earlier this year. I don't really know when; I was working on the ship pretty much day and night for _months_. Speaking of which, what day is it?"

I smirked. "It's Tuesday, Valdez."

He grinned and swung his arm over my shoulder as we walked down the long hallway with all of the doors to the cabins. I could see names written on some of them. "Good," he said in a low voice near my ear. He was still taller than me. My head barely passed his shoulder and his lips were just above my ear; the perfect place to press kisses to my hair and whisper the word _good_ into my ear. That was good.

"Why is that good?" I asked him, trying to ignore whatever it was he was doing to my brain that seemed to turn it into mush.

"Because it was a Tuesday when I met you," he said in the same low voice near my ear that sent chills down my spine. "Since then," he continued in a normal voice, moving his lips away from my hair, "Tuesdays have been my favorite day of the week."

I laughed again. "Leo Valdez, you are….really something."

He smiled that stupid little smile of his. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

I couldn't take it anymore. I stopped walking and put my arms around his neck, smiling as he put his around my back. "That is most definitely a good thing, Lord Valdez."

He pulled his arms tighter around me, squeezing us closer together. "God, Reyna I have missed you so much…I still can't believe that you just left me, but you were right. Everyone does have their own destiny. Mine was a crayon drawing from when I was five," I decided not to question this, just because it was Leo and he said things that didn't really make sense sometimes. "Yours was New Rome. But I know for a fact that it's fate that keeps pulling us together." He didn't give me a chance to respond before he pulled back and frowned. "That sounds like something out of some cheesy romantic movie from the 80s."

I smiled at him. Same old Leo. "I thought it was perfect."

He opened his mouth to say something, but all of a sudden, his expression became frozen and neutral and his eyes cold and hard. The hallway suddenly seemed very cold. He dropped his arms from around me and smiled a pretty fake looking smile and spun around, marching back down the hallway.

"I'm going to go check on something real quick. See ya,"he called over his shoulder in a dismissive tone.

I stood there, shocked, then narrowed my eyes and followed him. Whatever just happened wasn't Leo. Something was controlling him or disguised as him or possessing him or something…..I gasped. _Eidolons_? I had only seen them once or twice, but it looked like this. If _eidolons_ were here, that couldn't mean anything good for anyone, Roman or Greek.

**A/N Okay, so I lied. ONE MORE CHAPTER! For real, this time.**

**Reviews mean a sequel! On another note, I'm officially a year older now! Whoo! But seriously, do you think we could get this to be the most-reviewed Leo/Reyna story on this site? Please? It would make me super-duper happy :D**

**Ok, I have to say this. I know that Leo is like, OOC, but I really suck at writing funniness, especially classic Leo Valdez funniness, so…yeah. Deal with it.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N io non aquisto.**

**Book of the Update: **_**The Titan's Curse**_** by Rick Riordan**

**P.S. Took some dialogue straight from the book and stuff. I'm not Riordan, so don't sue me or anything, kay?**

Chapter 15

I followed the _eidolon_ in Leo's body down the hall and around a corner and up some stairs and through a door into what looked like a control room. I should have just attacked him then, but I wanted to see what it wanted, which was stupid of me, but I was confused and curious, which isn't the best combination.

The _eidolon_ sat down in the captain's chair and began pressing buttons and spinning dials and jiggling levers and stuff – how many different controls had Leo installed? – that's when I realized what he was doing. I wasn't a genius with machines like the children of Vulcan were, but I knew enough to see that the _eidolon_ was trying to fire whatever weapons this ship had.

I jumped up from my hiding place, knocking over someone's helmet in the process, which made a loud metallic clang as it hit the floor. The _eidolon_ spun around, forgetting momentarily about the controls.

"Come out of him," I ordered in my 'praetor voice'.

The _eidolon_ with Leo's face smirked and mimicked me in a squeaky voice. "_Come out of him_. No. I don't want to," it said stubbornly, crossing its arms like a child. I saw a screen with the word FIRE and a question mark after it and I almost flipped. He was firing on New Rome. Lovely.

"What do you want?" I tried, hoping to at least distract it for a while. Why couldn't I remember anything about _eidolons_? Why did my mind blank _now_, of all times?

"My mistress will awaken and have her revenge on the gods!" it said, grinning Leo's mischievous little grin that made my heart twang painfully because it was almost too perfect to tell that this wasn't really Leo. Leo wasn't really about to destroy my home; he wouldn't do that.

"Who's your mistress? Who are you working for?"

A red light started blinking on the console behind the _eidolon_-Leo and a loud, not-good-sounding alarm went off. The smile that seemed oh-so-familiar but was oh-so-wrong slipped right off of Leo's face when the _eidolon_ heard the alarm.

"No, no, no!" he shouted, jumping up out of the captain's chair and started smacking his hand on the console, pressing buttons and flicking switches really, really fast – I think I even saw a Wii controller once or twice.

"Something's gone wrong," I said, intentionally stating the obvious, maybe it would tell me what had happened. No such luck. He didn't even turn to look at me.

The words on the screen changed to something I couldn't read - looked Greek - and the _eidolon_ smirked, making me start to worry. The whole ship shuddered and I grabbed the wall to keep myself from falling over. Through the glass, I could see fire and that's about it. Something hit the edge of the huge window – an arrow, I realized. They were shooting at us.

"Leo, if you're still in there, I'm really, really sorry about this," I said to him as I punched the eidolon square across Leo's jaw and he fell to the floor, banging his skull on the chair on the way down. Whoops. I shoved his body aside with my foot and sat in the chair, looking hopelessly at the controls.

I glanced back at Leo's unconscious body. "Little help here?" I growled, spinning back to the controls and hitting a blue button that looked promising. I let out a breath of relief as he ship stopped shaking and I didn't see any more weapons fired – from the Argo II anyway, my legionnaires were still going strong with the cannons and arrows. Despite the fact that I was on the ship they were trying to shoot down, I couldn't help but feel a rush of pride for the Romans under my leadership.

I heard muffled voices shouting from somewhere down the hall and stood up to go to them, but the ship shuddered again, probably hit by a cannon or something, and I stumbled back into a stack of cardboard boxes full of something metal and heavy that really hurt when it all landed on me.

I was struggling to get out from under the pile of cardboard and metal that was crushing me when I heard the shouting voices getting louder and louder and then a door slam open and then the voices were in the control room and I was still under the boxes, yelling to get their attention, but no one heard.

"Oh my gods, Leo! Is he okay?" a girl's voice, Piper, I think, yelled. She was probably kneeling next to Leo's body and looking at his head injury or something. I felt a pang of jealousy. First she stole Jason, and now _she's_ the one who gets to make sure Leo's okay? I shook that thought off; no time to be a stupid, hormonal, jealous teenage girl right now. Right now, I needed to be the praetor of New Rome, I needed to stop a war between the two camps, I needed to warn whoever was out there about the _eidolons_, and I needed to get out from under these boxes.

I shoved my hand against the bottom of a box covering my left arm, and it toppled over and hit the floor with a muffled thud and then a metallic clangy noise. I heard feet shuffling and a few gasps, like it had startled them. My hand, now exposed to the world, waved around madly, pointing at the boxes. I was still shouting, but once again, they couldn't hear. Idiots.

The boxes were removed after some difficulty and I gasped, jumping up and stretching out my muscles, sore from the awkward angle I had been trapped in.

"Damn cubes," I muttered quietly, looking down at the metal cubes that did who knows what lying around my feet. Solid metal cubes in cardboard boxes … only Leo…..

"Reyna?"

I looked up to see Jason staring at me in bewilderment. "It would seem that Valdez has been hijacked by an _eidolon_," I said, pointing at his still form.

I heard a sharp intake of breath and Annabeth stepped up. "Find some rope. Handcuffs, anything. We need to tie him down; who knows what he'll do now." She looked at me. "Reyna, I'm sorry, you know that it was the _eidolon_, we would never-"

I held up a hand to stop her. "I know you wouldn't. And I know that he wouldn't," I added under my breath, so that she couldn't hear. I needed to say it out loud. I know that Leo Valdez would never intentionally fire on an ally camp and start a civil war. I took a deep breath before turning to the little group gathered around Leo, who was now bound with an orangey-red bungee cord.

"Perhaps we should get him out of the control room. Take him as far away from any weapons as we can."

"We probably shouldn't move him though, there's a lot of blood there," Frank said, sounding a bit off. I frowned at her, a Roman soldier, sick at the sight of a little blood?

"You're right. We'll have to keep him here for now. And a medical kit might be good too," I added, looking at the blood running down his face. I knelt down next to him and pulled my sleeve over my hand, gently wiping the gooey red liquid off. After it was mostly clean, I put his head in my lap to get a better look at the cut, which was on the crown of his head, under his messy mop of curls.

I looked up and saw Piper looking at me strangely. "What?"

She shook her head and looked down at Leo. "Is he gonna be okay?"

I nodded. "This isn't too bad, but I don't know how we're going to get the _eidolon_ out of him – that's the one thing I can't seem to remember," I said a bit sheepishly and she grinned.

"It's okay; I can't even remember what the difference between Scylla and Charybodis is once class is over," she told me in a secretive voice and I smiled a bit.

Leo started to move around a bit and I saw Jason crouch down near him, looking prepared to hold him down if necessary. I carefully laid his head back on the floor and stood up.

I walked out of the room and up the stairs at the end of the hall, to the main deck. We needed to explain to the Romans what had happened and, as much as I wanted to make sure Leo was okay, I was probably the best person to do it. I saw Percy at the wheel, steering away, and Annabeth was looking over the side a bit nervously – wait, _away_?

"PERCY JACKSON!" I yelled furiously, "TURN THIS SHIP AROUND RIGHT NOW!"

He ignored me, but Annabeth came up and looked me right in the eye, saying in a calm voice, "We would've been shot down if we had stayed, Reyna. I'm sorry, but we have to go."

I took a deep breath and answered, slightly calmer, "You will start a civil war by runni-"

"And would more bloodshed have helped at all?" she questioned and I stared at her for a long while before consenting.

"For all our sakes, I hope you've made the right decision."

0o0o0o0o0o0

The whole room silenced when Leo walked into the mess hall, followed by Hazel, who left him to sit by Frank. Leo awkwardly stood in the doorway, rocking back and forth on his heels for a while. He looked around the room and his eyes landed on me and I gave him a sort of nod and he slowly crept in and sat down on the couch next to me, close enough that our shoulders touched and that he could take my hand and gently squeeze it, making me bite back a smile.

"So we've landed," Percy said. "What now?"

Frank plucked on his bowstring. "Figure out the prophecy? I mean… that was a prophecy Ella spoke, right? From the Sibylline Books?"

"The what?" Leo asked.

Frank explained how the harpy friend they had picked up on the quest was freakishly good at memorizing books. At some point in the past, she'd read the Sibylline Books of prophecy before they'd been destroyed and now she had all of the prophecies memorized.

I sat up straighter and leaned toward him a bit, pulling my hand out of Leo's. "Frank, why didn't you tell us this?"

Frank fidgeted uncomfortably, but Leo came to his rescue. He looked at me before answering slowly, "That guy, Octavian, doesn't seem like the best person to have those books on hand."

My posture relaxed and I leaned back again, this time leaning a bit more on Leo's chest than the couch, which didn't go unnoticed by Piper, who gave me a look that I pointedly ignored. "Of course not. Then I thank you for _not_ telling us."

Percy was still looking at the image on the walls, so it surprised everyone when he spoke. "Ella's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want…" He made a fist. "It doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there."

Annabeth laced her fingers together. "Let me think about the prophecy— but right now we have more immediate problems. We have to get this ship fixed. Leo, what do we need?"

"The easiest thing is tar." Leo seemed glad to change the subject. "We can get that in the city, at a roofing-supply store or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."

"We'll have to hurry," I warned them. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a strike force after us. It's a matter of honor."

"Guys… I don't know what happened. Honestly, I—"Leo tried to explain, but Annabeth raised a hand.

"We know that it wasn't you, Leo. But we still have to be wary of the eidolons; who knows if they'll come back or if they're still here, even…" she trailed off and looked at Leo a bit too suspiciously for my liking.

"Leo is fine now. He's just Leo again. Maybe we should use the buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We can leave Piper and the faun on board with Jason. Send one team into town to get tar. Another team can go after the bronze and the lime," I suggested, taking the conversation off of blaming Leo, who shot me a grateful look.

"Split up?" Percy said. "That sounds like a really bad idea."

"It'll be quicker," Hazel put in. "Besides, there's a reason a quest is usually limited to three demigods, right?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, as if reappraising Hazel's merits. "You're right. The same reason we needed the Argo II… outside camp, seven demigods in one place will attract way too much monstrous attention. The ship is designed to conceal and protect us. We should be safe enough on board; but if we go on expeditions, we shouldn't travel in groups larger than three. No sense alerting more of Gaea's minions than we have to."

Percy didn't look very happy but he took Annabeth's hand and murmured something that made her smile at him.

"Okay, so Piper and Jason stay here with the faun, Percy and Annabeth get the tar-"

"How are we supposed to get there? It's a little bit too far to walk," Percy stated dryly and I faltered, but Hazel stepped in.

"Oh, that's easy. Frank, you were amazing, turning into a dragon! Could you do it again to fly Annabeth and Percy into town for the tar?"

Frank opened his mouth like he wanted to protest. "I… I suppose. But what about you?"

"I'll ride Arion with Reyna and Sa—Leo, here." She fidgeted with her sword hilt a bit guiltily, but I let it slide. There were bigger things to worry about. "And then we'll all meet up here by dark."

I stood to go, but Jason stopped me. "What I want to know is how you two," he flicked his finger between Leo and me, "know each other. And what the heck happened when Leo was possessed or whatever; you never really did say."

Leo and I shared a look before I sat down again. "So, after you," I glared at Percy and his girlfriend, "blew up my home and freed the pirates, my sister and I escaped and I sort of um, got lost and…"

"I was her knight in shining armor and then they lived happily ever after," Leo said with a sloppy grin, throwing his arm over my shoulders. I rolled my eyes and shrugged him off, skipping the _real_ story and giving everyone a quick retelling of what had happened in the control room when the _eidolon_ took over.

After some brief conversation about the new information, everyone walked out of the room in their respective groups to go to their respective destinations. Hazel said she'd be back in a minute because she had something to tell Frank really fast, so Leo and I were left alone.

"My knight in shining armor?" I questioned and he shrugged.

"Okay, so more like knight in shining tennis shoes," he admitted and I laughed.

He wrapped his arms around my back, pulling me closer to him, and mine instinctively went around his neck. "I love it when you laugh," he said, his voice low and serious. "You should really do it more often."

I could feel his breath hitting my lips when he spoke.

"I think I will, if you promise to stick around to make me laugh."

Our noses were touching now.

"I'll always be here to make you laugh," he said, his eyes intense as they looked into mine. He got so serious sometimes, I wondered if his happy-go-lucky, joking presence as the class clown might be just as much of a façade as my own stone-cold Roman praetor act.

I heard footsteps in the hallway just outside. "Leo." He grunted a response, his eyes never leaving mine. "Hazel's coming back."

He grinned. "Then I better do this before she gets back." I never did find out who kissed who, but all that mattered was that it was perfect, and for a moment, I could almost forget about the war hovering just above our heads, too far to touch but too close to escape.

I knew that that was the bright start to a dark chapter of our lives, but, at least for the time being, I had my knight in shining tennis shoes back…and that made the unbearable darkness ahead just a little more bearable.

**A/N AND DONE! That last part gave me so much grief, like I wrote it at least 10 different ways and I still ended up hating it whoops. Actually, I hated pretty much this entire chapter :/ thanks so much to my fabulous beta, Julianna54321, who helped so much with the whole thing, especially this last chapter. Most of the final sentence belongs to her!**

**For the sequel, should I do a long story or something like this length? And when I say long I mean like **_**long**_** long. REVIEW REIEW REVIEW PLEASE 150+ maybe? **

**I LOVE YOU ALL SO REVIEW BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME TOO AND YOU WANT A SEQUEL!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N I just posted the sequel to Just a Chance Encounter?**

**It's called Unacceptable Necessity and you should all go and read it and review it because you love me.**

**Cheers!  
-S**


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